'Losses of floods could have been averted'

The colossal losses of worst ever flood in history could have been averted if the recommendations of the Task Force on the Climate Change constituted in 2008 would have been implemented without any delay, official sources said. Planning Commission of Pakistan had set up a Task Force on Climate Change (TFCC) with the objective of formulating a policy that would assist the government in achieving sustained economic growth by appropriately addressing climatic change threats.
Co-chairman of the TFCC and former Chief Minister Khyber Pukhtoonkhwa, Shams-ul-Mulk said, "the most important climate change potential threats to Pakistan are increased variability of monsoon, drought and floods." He further said that the report was submitted to the government in February 2010 and it is up to the concerned ministries and departments to finalise plan of action.
The construction of major water reservoirs would have averted unprecedented floods in the country that have badly affected growth and livelihood of the people especially in the rural areas, he opined. No further time should be wasted in tackling the climate issue, he warned.
The report clearly identifies the risks attached to climate change like increased risk of floods as well as rapid variability of monsoon with heavy recession in HinduKush, Karakoram and Himalayan glaciers threatening water inflows into the Indus River System (IRS), Shamsul Mulk observed.
The report released in February, 2010 warned that climate change may cause devastating floods in the country. The scale and the range of destruction wreaked by the July/August 2010 floods in Pakistan is unfortunately the price that over 20 million flood affected people are paying for this lapse on the part of the government, official maintained.
Besides others issues, the report identifies the most important climate change potential threats to Pakistan as rapid reduction in capacity of natural reservoirs due to melting of the glaciers, high risk of drought, heavy silt accumulation in major dams resulting in loss of reservoir capacity.
Severe water and heat stress conditions in arid and semi-arid regions will lead to low agriculture productivity and power generation further increasing upstream intrusion of saline water in the Indus delta adversely affecting coastal agriculture, mangroves and breeding grounds of fish. Rising sea level could also have adverse affect on Karachi, industrial hub of Pakistan, the report pointed out, he warned.
Climate change, the report concludes is also posing a direct threat to Pakistan's water security, food security and energy security as the average temperature over Pakistan will increase in the range of 1.3 - 1.5 °C by 2020s, 2.5 - 2.8 °C by 2050s, and 3.9 - 4.4 °C by 2080s.
Other salient recommendations of the Task Force include: (i) energy efficiency improvement at all levels in the energy system chain; (ii) energy conservation measures and use of energy-efficient devices, (iii) rapid development of hydropower resources, (iv) large scale use of economically viable renewable energy technologies, (v) expansion of nuclear power programme, (vi) acquisition and adoption of clean coal technologies, (vi) development of mass transit systems in large cities, and (vii) greater use of CNG as fuel for urban transportation.
In the field of agriculture and livestock the recommendations include the adoption of new methods of rice cultivation with lower methane emissions, reducing nitrous oxide releases from agricultural soils, supporting new breeds of cattle which are more productive in terms of milk and meat but have lower methane production from enteric fermentation.
Development of high yield crops, resistant to heat stress, drought tolerant, less vulnerable to heavy spells of rain, and less prone to insects and pests, improvement of crop productivity per acre, applying water management techniques and increasing the efficiency of agricultural inputs. Intensive effort should be made for forestation along with biological control of forest pests by maintaining viable populations of predatory birds and insects through restricted use of chemical insecticide, preservation of rangelands through proper rangeland management and increase of grasslands using appropriate varieties of grass in saline and waterlogged zones to prevent their further degradation, the report further recommends.
However, such measures require financing and the federal government, currently on an IMF programme, simply does not have adequate resources to implement these recommendations. Compared to last year's total allocation of Rs 2.96 billion for projects related to the protection of the environment, the federal government reduced it to Rs 1 billion - a 52 per cent decrease this year.