Rising sea level threatens cities, warns official

Islamabad : The extreme weather-induced rising sea levels can submerge major cities in the country, warned climate change secretary Syed Asif Haider Shah on Thursday.

The secretary told the Senate standing committee on climate change in a meeting here that there was a possibility of the Arabian sea level rising by 36-50 centimetres in the years ahead due to extreme weather and if that happened, the country's large urban centres would go underwater. He said the ministry would inform the cabinet about it for guidance.

The secretary also expressed fear about the shortage of clean drinking water in the days ahead and said all stakeholders, especially the relevant authorities, to join forces for corrective measures. During the meeting, PTI Senator Faisal Javed and climate change minister Senator Sherry Rehman had heated exchanges over the last government's moves for environmental protection.

As Faisal Javed praised the ministry during the PTI government for 'splendid' work for the cause of the environment, minister Sherry Rehman said the forum shouldn't be used to make political rhetoric and claims.

She said the last government did nothing tangible to address the climate change issue and that it made a false claim about a 50 per cent reduction in carbon emissions by 2030 without even developing a national action plan to suggest how that would happen. The minister also complained that the last PTI government launched electric vehicles without even installing their charging stations.

The meeting also discussed the high incidence of forest fires. The climate change secretary blamed forest blazes on rising temperatures.

The assertion didn't sit well with Senator Mushtaq Ahmed of the opposition Jamaat-i-Islami, who wondered why Margalla forests burned down lately when mercury in the city was not high enough to start a fire. He also said those behind frequent forest fires were gangsters, who acted with the connivance of the relevant authorities.