Climate Change: Pakistan 7th most adversely affected country

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan ranks seventh among the most adversely affected countries by climate change on Global Climate Risk Index (2017), Pakistan Economic Survey 2016-17 revealed on Thursday.

The survey also showed that despite having high vulnerability of future climatic changes, Pakistan is still among very low GHG emission emitter countries.

“However, being a responsible state and part of international community Pakistan is planning to take serious steps for playing an effective role in lowering global GHG emissions,” the government said in the survey.

It added that realising the high vulnerability to climate change, the government has developed national policy to combat climate change and an action plan is being developed to effectively implement climate change concerns through sustainable planning.

“Pakistan’s vulnerability from climate change is due to geographic, demographic and diverse climatic conditions. Particularly the environment changes threats to water, energy and food security due to the inherent arid climate coupled with the high degree of reliance on water from glacier snow-melt,” the survey said while summing up the impact of environmental degradation.

It added that the impacts if climate change are being felt through increasing intensity and frequency of extreme climatic disastrous events, as well as small, but incremental changes insidiously affecting many sectors of government activity.

“Pakistan’s response to the challenges of global warming and climate change has been closely aligned with its strategies for environmental protection, sustainable development goals (SDGs) and objectives of the Convention on Climate Change,” it said.

To materialise the efforts regarding protection of climate change the government has recently passed Pakistan Climate Change Act 2017.

“The legislation has in turn created Climate Change Fund, Climate Change Council and Climate Change Authority to implement the Climate Change Act." It further said that keeping in view the challenges and distortions caused by global climate change efforts are underway worldwide to mitigate the devastating effects. “Pakistan, like many other countries, is fully cognisant of this issue and has already undertaken various programmes and projects,” the survey said.