Pakistan and National Geographic Society's Geography Awareness Week

Naseem sheikh

November 13-19 is the National Geographic Society’s Geography Awareness Week. This year’s theme is “The Adventure in Your Community”. Geography is all around us and varies from region to region in Pakistan. Did you know that geography and weather are very closely linked? Mountains and rivers can influence an area's climate by affecting both temperature and precipitation. As elevation increases, the atmosphere becomes less dense. When it is less dense, its ability to absorb and hold thermal energy is reduced resulting in lower temperatures. Rivers and seas also help the climate in cooling and absorb heat waves. Climate change is likely to have a profound effect on human societies around the world. Over the past decades much effort has concentrated on physical science behind climate change. With the general acceptance of anthropogenic climate change, emphasis has recently shifted towards climate change impacts, adaptation and mitigation. Explore some of the connections below.

Geography of Pakistan: A profound blend of landscapes varying from plains to deserts, forests, hills, and plateaus ranging from the coastal areas of the Arabian Sea in the south to the mountains of the Karakorum Range in the north.

Pakistan geologically overlaps both with the Indian and the Eurasian tectonic plates where its Sindh and Punjab provinces lie on the north-western corner of the Indian plate while Balochistan and most of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa lie within the Eurasian plate, which mainly comprises the Iranian plateau, some parts of the Middle East and Central Asia. The Northern Areas and Azad Kashmir lie mainly in Central Asia along the edge of the Indian plate and hence are prone to violent earthquakes where the two tectonic plates collide.

Pakistan shares its borders with four neighbouring countries – Afghanistan, China, India, and Iran – adding up to about 6,975 m (4,334.1 mi) in length (excluding the coastal areas).

Climate of Pakistan: Pakistan lies in the temperate zone. The climate is generally arid, characterized by hot summers and cool or cold winters, and wide variations between extremes of temperature at given locations. For example, the coastal area along the Arabian Sea is usually warm, whereas the frozen snow-covered ridges of the Karakoram Range and of other mountains of the far north are so cold year round that they are only accessible by world-class climbers for a few weeks in May and June of each year. In the coastal south you’ll find arid conditions. Pakistan does have a monsoon season with adequate rainfall, and a dry season with less rainfall. A cool, dry winter runs from December to February. Spring from March to May is hot and dry. Summer from June to September is rainy. October and November are the retreating monsoon period.

The climate in the capital city of Islamabad varies from an average daily low of 2° C in January to an average daily high of 40° C in June. Half of the annual rainfall occurs in July and August, averaging about 255 millimetres in each of those two months. The remainder of the year has significantly less rain, amounting to about fifty millimetres per month. Hailstorms are common in the spring.

New data from millennium-long tree-ring analyses are indicating that mountains in northern Pakistan have grown significantly wetter over the past century than they had been over the last millennium — quite possibly due to human-induced global warming. In Karakoram and Himalaya mountains in northern Pakistan, the upper reaches of the Indus Valley (which supplies the world's largest irrigation network), a group of researchers collected samples of Juniper tree rings that dated back as far as 828.

Environmental issues: The environmental issues are a great problem for the nature and nation of Pakistan and have been disturbing the balance between economic development and environmental protection. As Pakistan is a large importer of both exhaustible and renewable natural resources and a large consumer of fossil fuels, the Ministry of Environment of Government of Pakistan takes responsibility to conserve and protect the environment.

Current Climatic issues: water pollution from raw sewage, industrial wastes, and agricultural run-off; limited natural fresh water resources; a majority of the population does not have access to potable water; deforestation; soil erosion; desertification.

Pollution in country: Little attention was paid to pollution and environmental issues in Pakistan until the early 1990s but still situation is not very promising and contented. As industry has expanded, factories have emitted more and more toxic effluents into the air and water. Low-lying land is generally used for solid waste disposal, without the benefit of sanitary landfill methods. Another important issue is the contamination of shallow groundwater near urban industries that discharge wastes directly into the ground. Air pollution has also become a major problem in most cities. There are no controls on vehicular emissions, which account for 90 percent of pollutants.

Natural and National Entertainer Flora: There are 14 national parks, 72 wildlife sanctuaries, 66 game reserves, 9 marine and littoral protected areas, 19 protected wetlands and a number of other protected grasslands, shrub lands, woodlands and natural monuments.

Geography of Pakistan

Continent

Asia

Region

Southern Asia

Coordinates

30°00'N 70°00'E

Area

Ranked 36th

880,940 km2 (340,130 sq mi)

97.13% land

2.87 % water

Borders

Total:

6,975 km (4,334.1 mi)

Afghanistan:

2,643 km (1,642.3 mi)

China:

510 km (316.9 mi)

India:

2,910 km (1,808.2 mi)

Iran:

912 km (566.7 mi)

Highest point

Godwin Austen K2

8,616.3 m (28,269 ft)

Lowest point

Indian Ocean

0 m (0.0 ft)

Longest river

Indus River

Largest lake

Manchar Lake

Copyright Business Recorder, 2011