Drought in Thar desert persists despite rains

HYDERABAD: The drought in Thar Desert continues, despite the 400 millimetres of rain recorded by the Met Department. The farmers have neither crops to harvest, nor green meadows for their cattle, which they expect after rains.
“This is a rare phenomenon for the people of Thar Desert,” said Ishaq Mangrio, a Sindhi folklore writer and senior journalist while addressing a seminar on 'Climate Change: Issues, challenges and opportunities for the landless peasants and farmer communities'. It was organised by Sindh Agriculture University (SAU) Tandojam in collaboration with International Labour Organisation (ILO), Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and UN Women at the university on Wednesday evening.
The participants included peasant women from different agricultural farms, researchers, academia, civil society activists, and students from different departments of the university. They discussed and shared their learning about the changes, like excessive heat, that have started happening recently.
The speakers took Thar as an example to assess the situation related to famine, unavailability of water, crop loss, and drying wells and ponds due to climate change.
Ishaq Mangrio said Thar is experiencing drought in monsoon. There are ponds filled with rain water but they cannot give a hope to farmers and herders for more grasses and crops. There is no greenery and grasses, which usually attract tourists of different areas to visit and enjoy the beauty of the desert, he added.
Suhail Sangi, a senior journalist, belonging to Thar Desert recalls the prosperous past when grains and fruits were abundant and fodder sufficient for animals after rains. There used to be flocks of peacocks around villages, which now are dying in the scorching heat without feed and proper water.
Talking about the recent heat wave, killing more than 1,000 people in Karachi, Sangi said, “It was an unimaginable situation as temperatures were higher in Nawabshah, Mohenjo Daro and other areas of Sindh with 48—50 Celsius compared to Karachi, where the deaths occurred. It spread fear among the city people. However, no human loss was reported from the hottest areas of the province.”
Suhail blamed lack of ventilation space in urban areas, especially in tall apartment buildings for the deaths. He said that people consume a lot more carbon in the cities, and depend on electricity a lot more compared to the other areas where people live under higher temperatures. He linked it to the climatic variations, which may further contribute to destroying life and livelihoods of the people.
Abid Niaz of ILO said that since Sindh was located in the tail end zone of Pakistan, it generally witnessed either flood or drought. “If there is more water in the river and canals, it may cause flooding, while in case of acute water shortage, the province may experience droughts in some areas, like Thar Desert and the semi arid zones,” Niaz said.
To counter this situation, he claims Mirpurkhas and Dadu districts have been identified by ILO with FAO and UN Women for providing support to the rural communities, avoid food shortage, and maintain livelihoods. He said Mirpurkhas district is at the tail end of Jamrao Canal while Dadu district is considered the tail end of the Rice Canal. Hence, they can work for livelihood resilience to save the people in these areas, which are vulnerable.
SAU VC Mujibuddin Memon sharing his experiences said peasants and rural communities were most vulnerable in terms of losing sources of living due to the change in the weather pattern. He urged for the need to spread awareness among the peasants.
Memon said that Pakistan was rich in natural resources, but people were still losing food sources due to climatic changes. The seminar observed that hundreds of herder families have returned to their homes from the barrage areas in hopes of green pastures, however, they are in trouble due to the shortage of fodder and grains for sustenance.
The seminar urged to sensitise the community especially women about reducing pollution, a contributing factor in climate change. Along with this endeavour, they said adaptation to climate smart crops needs to be actively pursued.
Global Climate Change Study Centre Islamabad Director Muhammad Arif Goher, Meteorology Department of Pakistan ex-chief Muhammad Tausif Alam, ILO Area of Critical Importance Geneva Director Alfarido Lazatee, ILO Islamabad National Coordinator Abid Niaz, Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum Chairperson Muhammad Ali Shah, and Prof Ismail Kumbhar also spoke on the occasion.