Climate change causes ‘spatial shift’ in monsoon pattern

Islamabad : The climate change has resulted in a 100 kilometers‘ spatial shift’ towards the west in the overall monsoon pattern in Pakistan.

The climate zones of the country mainly from North, Northwest, West, and Coastal areas have shown an overall changing rainfall pattern.

A report titled ‘A Region At Risk: The Human Dimensions of Climate Change in Asia and the Pacific’, jointly produced by the Asian Development Bank and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research claimed that Pakistan lies in those regions whose geographical location makes it more prone to rise in temperature than rest of the world.

Global warming has pushed weather conditions to their extremities, which can clearly be observed in Pakistan’s susceptibility to flooding and, conversely, droughts.

Not only urban flooding in major cities such as Islamabad and Karachi has led to damaged infrastructure, but floods in rural areas are also adversely affecting the fertility of agricultural lands and crop production.

Climate change directly influences weather patterns, especially precipitation. With rising temperatures, there is greater surface evaporation leading to a greater concentration of water vapours in the atmosphere, which results in heavier downpours.

The declining trend is due to a relatively drier period from 1998 to 2001 in which Pakistan faced severe drought, mainly in the southern and central parts of the country.

The depletion of natural resources, water shortage, and food insecurity are some of the risk factors because of rapid climate change trends in Pakistan.

An official of the climate change ministry said “Pakistan like some other countries has been facing adverse impacts of the climate change for last many decades. Now the world must fulfil its promises and help those countries that are being severely affected by the climate change.”