EDITORIAL: “No question of the provinces or Islamabad being able to cope with this magnitude of climate catastrophe on their own.” Federal Climate Change Minister Sherry Rehman’s frank admission of the state’s helplessness in the face of the havoc caused by rains and floods could not be more right as she pressed the international community for help.
About 900 people have already died with many, many more displaced, never to return to homes that were washed away in front of their eyes. Too many people have lost all their possessions, especially the livestock that kept them alive, for any shade of normalcy to be expected anytime soon.
Besides, dealing with the immediate threat is just one small part of the bigger picture. It’s not something that hits the news cycle when relief effort is the number-one priority, but very soon the financial damage, the percentage points shaved off GDP, and the money required to relocate, rebuild and reconstruct will also send shockwaves through central and provincial governments alike.
That this disaster has struck when we are in the thick of an IMF (International Monetary Fund) programme whose strait jacket leaves virtually no room for manoeuvre for us as we have to strictly confine our actions within the agreed framework.
Now a lot of money will have to be directed towards emergency aid, which will obviously put the squeeze on the budget deficit just when this is one of the biggest sticking points in the negotiations with the Fund.
It is estimated that in the province of Sindh alone a major portion of the cotton and rice crops that were ready to be harvested has been washed out by flood waters. Nationally, according to some estimates, there will be a 50 percent shortfall in these crops when partial damage to these crops in Punjab is factored in. This would have a devastating effect on our exports that would put pressure on foreign exchange reserves.
Once the damage has been priced in, perhaps there can be a constructive national debate on two very important points about this crisis that kills hundreds and affects thousands, if not millions, of lives every year.
One, it’s a shame that even deaths and destruction caused by climate change can only divide the political elite further instead of uniting it, for a change, for the good of the people that need their attention and influence.
Even now, all political parties remain gripped with their power struggle and continue to use the floods and deaths to badmouth others. If they had put their differences aside for a while, and come together in this time of great national trial and tragedy, then this problem would never have assumed the proportions that it has.
And two, when are we going to look into some of the reasons for the damage caused by rains? True, this year’s rainfall was about 200 percent more than the national average, and 430 percent in Balochistan and about 500 percent in Sindh. But it doesn’t help if administration after administration throws the rulebook out the window and green-lights commercial and residential construction in areas that block the natural flow of the water that comes rushing through.
The result is far more deaths, destruction and damage than would otherwise have been the case. Yet, so deep is this kind of corruption entrenched into the system, with beneficiaries spread across civil society, civil service, and even the government machinery, that nobody gives such things a thought anymore.
With any luck, the international community will respond positively; and in time. But what are we going to do if the skies unleash more fury next year, and the year after that? The Global Climate Risk Index, compiled by environmental NGO Germanwatch, puts Pakistan at eight in its list of countries most vulnerable to extreme weather caused by climate change, which means the climate minister, at least, has her work cut out for her.
She’s done the right thing by raising the alarm and admitting that we’re not up to the task. Now she must make sure that her government wakes up to this reality and starts marching on the long road to dealing with climate change.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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