CLIMATE CHANGE: PAKISTAN IS HARD PRESSED TO FIND A GREEN SOLUTION TO THEIR WOES

courtesy: Dawn.com

Ominous signs of the impact of climate change have been coming for years.  But, as the civilized world tangles and suffers on the subject, some countries, which are more affected than others, must come to grips with the problem sooner rather than later.

One of the countries that is more affected by climate change is Pakistan.  

Fierce droughts and even fiercer flooding rains have devastated large areas of Pakistan.  For Pakistan what would be a temporary or limited crisis elsewhere is a devastating tidal wave for which they need to make plans quickly.

Fresh water shortages, and climbing food prices spell trouble for a country where a majority of the population lives below the poverty line.  Even the Punjab, the breadbasket of earlier years, has seen ominous changes wreaked by severe weather.

What Pakistan is realizing just by observing their land, is what other countries fear for the future.  For Pakistan the future is here.  

The past two years, Pakistan has had devastating climatic phenomena, which have placed it at number two worldwide for climate impact.

Unfortunately climate is not regional, but worldwide. Meanwhile the rest of the world is wrangling and debating without coming to a meaningful agreement or plan.  Unfortunately a world recession has but increased the reluctance to action, where economic distress is cited over and over.  But the truth is that countries that are failing to act are often the primary culprit of climate change.  So countries like Pakistan, which are not primary polluters, must contend with the effects wrought by other, more industrialized countries.

Pakistan, therefore, cannot wait for the world to make its decision.  They have decided  to act internally, in a way that protects them from the climate changes that are beyond their control.         

Pakistan's solution then, might be the adoption of a green economy.  Since Pakistan is primarily an agricultural country, the solution would have to include green farming practices.  

The idea then, is to focus money and energy on green activities, thereby finding long term solutions to existing problems.  One of the things that Pakistan can do is not to follow big business and move away from wasteful consumption and lifestyles that exarcebate the problem.  

The efforts therefore must be in the conservation of resources, consumption patterns, and improve lifestyles.

source: Dawn.com 2.19.13