Global Warming: ‘G-B at high risk of suffering from effects of climate change’

Speakers stress need for environmental protection, fighting illegal logging.

GILGIT:

Environmentalists warned on Wednesday that climatic changes not only affect people but also trigger floods, leading to the destruction of crops and infrastructure.

They said that if people in Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) want to avoid this, they will have to adjust their lifestyles according to the ever-changing needs of the day.

“Proper town planning, the introduction of public transport, construction of dams and irrigation of barren land may be some of the measures that can slow down environmental degradation to ease life in the years to come,” said participants in a workshop organised jointly by One UN Joint Programme on Environment and Ministry of Environment in a local hotel. More than two dozen environmentalists representing government and non-governmental organisations participated in the workshop that sought their input before finalising the draft report of the “National Climate Change Policy”.

Apart from others, Forests Conservator Ismail Zafar, EPA Director Shehzad Shigri, PMAC Director Khalil Ahmed, One UN Senior Analyst Sohail Muhammad, and Ministry of Environment Deputy Secretary Manzoor Usman also participated in the workshop.

Four separate groups formed by the facilitators in the workshop deliberated and submitted their recommendations on the likely impact of climate change on “Water and Disaster”, “Agriculture and Rangeland”, “Biodiversity and Forests”, and “Energy, Transport, Town Planning”.

The participants highlighted gaps in the draft policy that will provide guidelines for the country in the days to come. They were in agreement over the need to protect forests in G-B to ward off calamities.

Deputy Seceretary Usman added that they are in consultation with experts in all provinces to make the policy final. He said G-B has crucial ecological importance owing to its mountainous terrain. He said that G-B was located on the “tipping point” in the region and was on the receiving end of a greater impact regarding the effects of climate change.

Environmentalists noted that climatic changes may affect 30 per cent of the country’s agriculture yield by 2050, if the pace of environmental degradation is not stopped. They observed that G-B is losing its forests reserves at an alarming pace due to illegal logging.

Ghulam Mustafa, a senior conservationist, said that G-B must introduce new varieties of crops, capable of withstanding climatic changes, to avoid scarcity of food in the longer run. “But such variety must be ecologically viable in the weather conditions of the region,” he said.

The participants stressed on the need to construct rainwater reservoirs to save rainwater from being wasted.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 26^th, 2011.