Report on Building Capacity on Climate Change Adaptation launched

WWF - Pakistan launched its Synthesis report on "Building Capacity on Climate Change Adaptation in Coastal Areas of Pakistan" (CCAP) at a local hotel here. This is a European Commission funded project which is being implemented in partnership with LEAD Pakistan and WWF - UK. The report is a composite of 11 scientific, social, economic, and political analysis studies conducted by CCAP during 2012.
The event brought together local and regional experts, practitioners and relevant stakeholders in the field of climate change. They discussed key findings, next steps and collaborative efforts that can be drawn from this synthesis report. Participants at the event included representatives of Indus River System Authority, Ministry of Climate Change, US Geological Survey, Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD), United Nations Development Programme, Sindh Forest Department, PIEDAR, Sustainable Development Policy Institute, Balochistan Coastal Development Authority, among others.
The participants were welcomed by Rab Nawaz, Director Sindh of WWF-Pakistan, who appreciated the presence of so many stakeholders whose input would be used to strengthen the report contents. Ali Dehlavi, Manager of CCAP and Anam Zeb of LEAD Pakistan explained the concept behind the report, its methodology, and how LAPA (Local Adaptation Plan for Adaptation) were being developed for mainstreaming community inputs.
Urooj Saeed, Head of the WWF GIS Laboratory presented her findings of hazard mapping the coastal areas and showed areas where land loss had occurred. She also presented a comparative picture of how the plantation of mangroves was changing the coastal areas over the years.
In a presentation delivered by Dr Ghulam Rasul, Chief Meteorologist of Pakistan and author of CCAP's Climate Data Modelling Analysis it was mentioned that they had used state of the art climate models to develop baselines and project future climate regimes in Pakistan at a scale of 25x25 km. Research findings included: temperatures in the Indus Delta are expected to rise by 4C within this century.
He continued to state, in this decade monsoon rains in Sindh would be concentrated over the month of August instead of July when the monsoon is generally expected. Dr Ghulam Rasul also mentioned February of 2013 has been record breaking in terms of precipitation levels in Pakistan.-PR