Ministry compiles report on variability in climate, rains pattern

ISLAMABAD: The climate change ministry has prepared a report about variability in climate and rains pattern in last ten years that would help formulate policies to tackle these issues in the coming years.

According to the report, some twenty percent variability has been observed in the rains pattern in Pakistan in last ten years that led to unexpected increase and decrease in rains at different points of the year.

There is a southward spatial shift in monsoon rainfall occurrence over Pakistan while an eastward shift in moderate to heavy monsoon rainfall events.It said that inter annual variability is an important characteristic of monsoon in Pakistan, which makes it hard to predict a certain trend in rainfall pattern. Monsoonal variability and inconsistency can be partially attributed to large-scale circulations. However, there is strong need to corroborate additional factors such as evolution of greenhouse gases, observed warming, role of aerosols, and land use and land cover changes in the region.

The report also pointed out that there is a one degree temperature rise in last ten years that has started showing its negative impacts especially on agriculture sector. There are four seasons including a cool and dry winter from December to February; a hot and dry spring from March to May; the summer rainy season, also known as the southwest monsoon period, occurring from June to September; and the retreating monsoons from October to November.

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam has said that the purpose of preparing the report is to get to know the changing patterns of rains and climate in different climatic zone of the country.He said “We have done our arithmetic on the emissions and believe that with the sequestration projects that we are doing, Pakistan can well be on its way to levelling all its emissions.”