The right choice on climate

Earlier this week, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon convened a one-day summit on climate change and invited nearly 100 world leaders to participate in the run-up to the anticipated new ‘climate deal’ in Copenhagen this December. In his opening address, the UN Secretary-General warned the participants from around the world: “Failure to reach broad agreement in Copenhagen would be morally inexcusable, economically short-sighted and politically unwise. Now is the moment to act in common cause.”

The summit was a day before the annual UN Assembly, which is otherwise an opportunity for countries to make promises with no intention to keep them, and our President to spend some time in New York.

The effect of man’s rapid industrialisation and unending consumption of natural resources has seriously damaged our earth’s ability to repair any damage to itself. Greenhouse gases unleashed all over the world trap ultraviolet rays from the sun within the earth’s atmosphere, changing climate patterns around the globe. What’s expected is nothing short of the greatest challenge faced by our species.

Rapidly melting glaciers in the Himalayas threaten the water supply of nearly one-sixth of humanity. Lack of water here and elsewhere in the world will mean facing food shortages as arable land is lost to draught or desertification. Continuing industrialisation and urbanisation have already brought the energy crisis to the doorstep of our country, and climate change is sure to take it to others. The destabilisation of the Delicate Balance of Nature will increase in incidents of natural epidemics and increase disaster risks. The degradation of the ecosystem will mean the loss of a livelihood to millions and, as a result, will see forced population migrations (we are already witnessing this phenomenon in rural Sindh).

According to this Islamic Republic’s own assessment of the impacts of climate change, found in the Initial National Communication on Climate Change issued by the Ministry of Environment in 2004, glaciers are expected to melt faster and less snow is expected to form in the mountains where our freshwater comes from. This will change the flow of our rivers and the entire system which depends on them. Our country’s breadbasket is going to be affected. The increase in temperature will also put heat stress on crops, including ‘severe stress’ on our cash crops: cotton, wheat and sugar. Any effect on crop yields will have the obvious effects on our food supply and agriculture sector. It will also wreak havoc in rural society, where families have no other means save the fruit of the soil that they till. The communication also expects that deforestation, coupled with shifting water resources, will cause landslides. The fragile ecosystems, flora and fauna sustained by what remains of our forest resources are also under threat. Changing water resources and crop patterns are also expected to result in mass migrations as rural populations follow better climactic conditions.

Even though Pakistan is not responsible for global climate change it will be one of the countries worst affected by it. Worryingly, far too many people still harbour the incorrect notion that, because Pakistan is not responsible for climate change, it has no reason to do anything about it. According to this line of thought, since climate change is due, largely, to the industrialisation of western countries, it is these countries that should come to the aid of those who are suffering from their actions.

According to the 2005 World Bank assessment on how climate change is affecting Pakistan, an estimated 20,000 infants die prematurely each year because of our polluted air. An estimated 45 million respiratory diseases are reported annually. Every year, the failing environment and the inefficiencies it creates cost the exchequer an estimated $6 billion. In other words, climate change or not, environmental degradation means we experience a national tragedy of the scale of the Oct 5 earthquake on an annual basis. The environment and climate change are simply not issues that can be ignored. One would be mistaken if they thought that the government was doing something about these issues.

According to the environment chapter in the 2009-2010 Economic Survey issued by the Ministry of Finance, Pakistan’s response to the challenges of poor air quality has been (i) the implementation of an air quality monitoring system in five cities; and (ii) the presentation of a road-map to implement Euro-II quality standards on automobiles (other countries have advanced to the protection of an Euro-IV quality standard and Euro VI is set to be implemented by 2014). To meet the challenge of poor quality water (responsible for 60 per cent of Pakistan’s already high infant mortality), (i) the Ministry of Environment has prepared a National Drinking Water Policy; (ii) a National Sanitation Policy has been launched (where it is hoped that all Pakistanis will have access to sanitation facilities by 2025); and (iii) apparently water filtration plants are to be set up. Several programmes have been implemented to increase Pakistan’s forest cover. We were recently inducted into the Guinness Book of World Records for the most number of trees planted in one day (we broke the record set by India earlier this year, and the trees planted were actually replacements for the hundreds of thousands of acres of mangrove forests lost due to environmental degradation). And, to tackle climate change, the government set up a task force.

Given the challenges of climate change and the threat environmental degradation poses to the lives and property of millions, our government’s response to climate change is simply not up to the mark.

This is tragic because, more than anything else, a thoughtful and well-executed response to climate change is a great opportunity for Pakistan to lead the new ‘green’ global economy. Strategies to implement adaptation and mitigation measures can bring jobs and arm our workforce with the vocational skills that can be exported to aid other countries facing the challenges of climate change. Conservation measures in water and electricity (and especially electricity since conservation is the single largest source of electricity in Pakistan at this moment) can also generate a new economy and create tens of thousands of new jobs.

Frankly, I would prefer my tax rupees be put into combating climate change to pretending to provide security. Investing in military adventures, a foray into a war on terror and even the bomb has not made this country and its people any richer or more secure. It’s now time to invest in something that will.