Extremes of weather

It is essential that Pakistan invests in mitigating and protective measures in respect of extreme weather events.

The most powerful storm ever recorded devastated much of the central Philippine archipelago on November 8 and 9. Thousands are dead, up to 11 million affected and aid agencies are estimating that it may take a decade or more for the country to recover. As the recovery and relief operation powers up, there is a United Nations (UN) climate summit being held in Warsaw, Poland. And there is bleak news for Pakistan. A climate vulnerability report placed Pakistan among three countries most affected by extreme weather conditions in 2012. The Germanwatch report titled Global Climate Risk Index 2014 tells us that Haiti, the Philippines and Pakistan were battered by adverse weather in 2012, with Pakistan suffering massive damage in the floods of 2010 and 2011. Pakistan has cumulatively lost 0.7 per cent of GDP over the last 20 years, and with the advance of global warming, matters are unlikely to improve any time soon.

As an indicator of how seriously the government takes this rolling catastrophe, it has sent the minister of state for railways as its representative, whereas the NGO sector has sent Dr Qamaruz Zaman Chaudhry, the lead author of Pakistan’s National Climate Change Policy and a climate adviser working with LEAD Pakistan. It is he who has said that the report comes at an opportune time for Pakistan as it enables us to better press our case as a vulnerable state. He is an advocate of the ‘loss and damage’ concept that posits that the rich countries have a larger responsibility for climate change than poor countries, but the poor countries suffer the most as a result. Unsurprisingly, the richer countries have thus far resisted discussing how contextual protocols might be established to operationalise ‘loss and damage’ practically. It is essential that Pakistan invests, and heavily, in mitigating and protective measures in respect of extreme weather events. Because one thing is for certain — there are going to be more of them.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 18^th, 2013.

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