‘Snow leopards angry over US pullout from Paris deal’

Senator Mushahidullah Khan calls for collective action to slow global warming

ISLAMABAD: The snow leopards are angry after the US ‘turned its back’ towards climate change and its fallout on human activity and biodiversity in the world, with habitats for the big cat in Pakistan at serious risk of vanishing.

This was stated by Climate Change Minister Senator Mushahidullah Khan while addressing a two-day Global Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Protection (GSLEP) Forum, which concluded on August 25 in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.



“Without slowing down global warming to stabilise glacial-melt in 20 snow leopard range countries, including Pakistan, habitats of the snow leopard cannot be protected,” Mushahidullah said.

He noted that global efforts to tackle global warming suffered a serious blow after America pulled out from the historic climate change accord.

The agreement, reached at the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 21) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, was successfully negotiated in December 2015 by 190 countries—including the United States—to limit global temperature increases to no more than two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

However, months after taking oath as president of the United States, Donald Trumped announced in June this year that his country – one of the major polluters of the world – was pulling out from the Paris climate accord.

Mushahidullah warned that it would adversely affect an enhanced momentum for global climate action.

“The US administration’s unpopular decision is one that has signaled to the world that the US government turns its back on the reality of human-caused climate change and its fallout across all sectors of human activity and global biodiversity and fails to recognise the urgency with which we must act unitedly to fight this common global survival threat,” the climate change minister said.

He added that the historic U-turn must have also enraged the snow leopards worldwide.

“With rapidly receding glaciers due to global warming, the habitat of the snow leopard is fast vanishing, posing a grave danger to the very survival of snow leopards, which is a reflection of God’s beauty in the mountains,” he said.

“Thus, the world must act to protect its habitat from the global warming –induced climate change impacts,” the climate change minister urged.



The Forum brought together nearly 20,000 delegates including heads and representatives of the governments of the 12 snow leopard range countries including Pakistan as well as of other interested nations with leaders from international institutions, donor agencies, conservation organisations, and scientific institutions.

“Now, all of us have a historic opportunity to put work on snow leopard conservation in the vanguard of political and economic decisions,” he said.

Highlighting efforts to improve snow leopard habitats in Pakistan, the minister said that $4.5 million has been approved for a multi-year snow leopard protection programme. The programme is expected to launch in the mountainous Gilgit-Baltistan region next year.

Estimated 200-420 snow leopards still live in the Hindu Kush, Pamir, Karakoram and Himalayan mountain ranges of Pakistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 28^th, 2017.