‘Climate change poses huge threats to species’

LAHORE: WWF-Pakistan is going to urge the world leaders gathering in Paris for attending COP21 summit to ensure a deal that meets the demands of science and reduces greenhouse gas emissions sufficiently to keep global warming below 1.5°C.
As per a press release issued on Sunday, WWF-Pakistan said the importance of reaching a world-wide agreement on climate change is underscored with recent news that global temperature has risen to 1°C above pre-industrial levels, reaffirming scientists’ predictions that 2015 will be the hottest year in recorded history.
Climate change poses huge threats to species such as the snow leopard, as a shift in the snowline is shrinking its habitat and increasing human-snow leopard conflict. Moreover, sea turtles are also threatened by changes in climate as the gender of turtle hatchlings is temperature dependent, it added.
It maintained that the global conference COP21 taking place in Paris, France, from November 30 (today) to December 11 has immense importance for Pakistan, as the country is becoming highly vulnerable to changing weather patterns.
Pakistan does not contribute to climate change, accounting for less than one per cent of carbon emissions in the world. It revealed that WWF-Pakistan has also produced a study on the impacts of climate change on the agricultural sector and food security.
The study showed that eight to ten per cent loss in agricultural productivity across Sindh and Punjab (equivalent to PKR 30,000 per acre loss) can be expected by 2040 for a conservative 0.5 degree Celsius predicted rise in average temperatures.
It further revealed that another finding was that 49 to 52 per cent yield gains are likely for cotton and wheat. Interestingly, the study urges spending taxpayer money on adaptation trainings and not on planners’ ordinary high-cost prescription, namely purchasing 0.47 billion metric cubes of water supply to achieve one percent productivity increase across all crops. The study urges replacing spending on big items such as dam/reservoir capacity and canal lining with training of farmers to adapt to changing weather patterns.
Hammad Naqi Khan, Director General, WWF-Pakistan, said ‘2015 has proven to be an unusual year for Pakistan due to unpredictable weathering events across the entire country. A mini-cyclone in Peshawar killed 44 people; heat waves in Karachi killed more than 1,500 people, cloudbursts and glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) in various areas of Gilgit-Baltistan affected 35,717 people and floods across the country affected more than 1.5 million people. At COP21 it is important that Pakistan’s leadership invest more in alternate energy and effectively communicate its high vulnerability case to the international community to seek support for climate change adaptation.’
Marco Lambertini, Director General, WWF International, said, “Science is telling us that we need to act quickly on climate change and Paris is our moment. We need a strong climate plan that will cut carbon emissions, promote renewable energy, provide promised finance and protect powerful carbon sink ecosystems like forests and the oceans. Only strong action in Paris can help meet the scale and pace needed to avoid runaway climate change and secure a safer future for us all”. The Paris meeting is an important opportunity to protect vulnerable people and natural systems of the world that are disproportionately impacted by climate change. To be effective, a climate deal should include a global goal for adaptation and provide strong solutions to address loss and damage due to climate change.