Tuethe hat we saw this summer in Pakistan is nothing but of climate catastrophe. First came an early heat wave that ended the spring, lowering crops and increasing yields. rate of glacial melt. Then came the monsoon showers, which lasted for days on ended and sowed chaos in the country. One third of Pakistan is now under water. Over 1200 people were killed and more than 33 million people affected. And monster monsoon not over for now.
Experts say heavy rains have been caused on higher than average warming of Arabian Sea. In the province of Sindh, which produces half food of the country, 90% of the crop dies. Over 75% of Balochistan, which covers half of Pakistan partially or completely damaged. Folk homes as well as patches of lands are flooded. Out of 650,000 pregnant women women who Was directly affected in flood-hit areas, 73,000 will give birth this month. Huge scale of destruction of those children will be born in the unimaginable.
The “Third Pole”, as it is often called, is a vast mountainous region which stretches from Myanmar to Afghanistan. This cold wall of Ice separates China and seven South Asian countries including Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan. region is home to the worldx highest peaks and countless glaciers. Flights from Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, the northern cities of Gilgit and Skardu can be reached in just an hour. in good old days before pakistan national carrier faced with financial difficulties, it also used to run weekly flight called air safari. If you was lucky enough to get a window seat, the journey was a visual feast.
The flight will give passengers tour of snow-covered “eight-thousanders” (alpinist jargon for peaks above 8000 meters) and glaciers with comfort of their places. Five of these peaks in Pakistan; our country also It has highest amount of glaciers outside polar regions. air the safari was spectacular, a comfortable alternative to months of training, weeks of trekking in treacherous terrain and frostbite.
Few things grow at that height. But the third pole functions as a reservoir, whose 10 large rivers flow downstream from these mountains and support more than 1.5 billion people. When you understand this, you start see mountains, valleys and continuously flowing streams and rivers in different light. The prophecy that this magnificent, awe-inspiring landscape in the time to turn into bare rocks is terrible.
By 2100, a third of ice sheets in this is region disappear even if world is limited to global target heating of 1.5C. Temperature rising higher than this, bringing the end of the world closer. Hardly a crisis anyone Negotiations about. The floods experienced by Pakistan one of early signs of this crisis. climate catastrophe now in landing place, for everyone to see.
Despite this, major economies failed come to a consensus on emission reduction. There have been countless summits and international meeting, and yet we still do not on track to reach net zero by 2050 For countries such as Pakistan, which falls into the category of unfortunate of “most vulnerable to climate change”, each failed climate summit bad news. it’s frustrating for us see rich countries to bargain with each other over cutting back emissions while we continue to pay the costs in life and livelihood with much greater frequency than before.
results of the inertia and apathy of Western economies are now clearly evident. Pakistan contributes less than 1% in global emissions, and yet it one of in countries most in risk due to climate change and global heating. One can only hope that Cop27, which will take place this year in Egypt, won’t fall behind on expectations. But we’ve been here before: Cop26’s response of main pollutants failed to match scale of climate crisis.
If it happens againmessage for countries like Pakistan will clear: the biggest polluters despite growing evidence of deadly climate events such as heat waves, droughts and floods, are still unwilling to compromise on a trade-off between economic growth and saving the planet. If it is true, countries like Pakistan, with other vulnerable countries that responsible for fraction of greenhouse gas emissions are still at the level risk of changing of the climate, should think about making your own coalition inside a police officer to highlight their plight and apply pressure on wealthy polluters to create a fund that help they manage with in aftermath of climate disasters.
global north long resisted such calls to set up a fund for help poor countries to deal with with effects of climate emergency and pay for damage. Perhaps this is because it will be interpreted as a confession of guilt. Consequently of recent climate disaster in Pakistan, millions of lives were destroyed. The likelihood that thousands will be displaced below poverty line. Children will drop out of schools and many mothers will die during childbirth. effects of floods will be long term and catastrophic. We are now in a crisis that never happened. of our manufacture.
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Mustafa Nawaz Hokar Senator in Pakistan. From 2009 to 2013 he worked as an adviser prime minister of Pakistan on human rights
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