Islamabad
Climate change does not only threaten our food security, it poses a threat to Pakistan’s economic survival, Dr. Amir Mohammad Khan, Chairman People’s Agricultural Commission and ex-federal minister for agriculture, said this during a forum on ‘Climate Change, Food Insecurity and Communities’ Responses’ held here.
The forum arranged by a non-government organisation, Lok Sanjh, was attended by leading meteorologists, agriculture scientists and economists. Dr. Munir, Joint Director Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, said temperature seems to decline in Sargodha and Muzaffargarh and increasing in Faisalabad, Bahawalnagr, Mianwali, Multan, Peshawar, and Sakhar.
There is a drastic increase of over 1C in Karachi and Lahore over the past 30 years. The study focused on trend shown in November till December temperature increased over the past 30 years and decreasing from March till April.
A survey conducted over 3,000 households revealed that the local farmers are adapting to these changes in their own way without guidance or training. The farmers have started sowing their crops 2-3 weeks’ late. Adapting to and mitigating the impacts of climate change is a matter of economical survival of Pakistan since agriculture is the foundation of the economy.
Throughout Pakistan’s history its economy is widely dependent on the four seasons. Climate change is one of the biggest challenges faced by the agricultural sector. One of the best strategies to combat this is developing climate zones and introducing supplementary irrigation for sustainable agriculture because our land is arid and rain-fed.
Dr. Shahid Zia, MD Rural Business Development Centre (RBDC), said that climate change would really be a severe challenge for some of the poorest communities in Pakistan. Climate change was already having effects in real time melting sea ice and thawing permafrost in the Arctic, killing off coral reefs in the oceans, and leading to heat waves, heavy rains and mega-disasters.
Raja Javed Ali Bhatti, President Pakistan Association of Green Agricultural Journalists, said that climate change will change cropping patrons and food habits as well. We need poor farmer’s friendly climate change policy. Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Qamar uz Zaman Chaudhary, Special Envoy of UN-WMO on DRR & Climate Change Services for Asia, said that now there is no difference of opinion about the reality of climate change and its challenges. He said Pakistan has prepared a National Climate Change Policy and a framework for its implementation but there is a lot more that need to be done. In his opinion Pakistan performance was not very impressive at the Paris Conference, a summit held in 2015 to discuss the issues related to climate change. The climate change is having a serious impact on agriculture and water but Pakistan has no national policy on both areas.