EDITORIAL: With temperatures rising 5 to 6 degrees Celsius above normal, a severe heat wave sweeping all across the country was expected to last till May 30. But at a joint press conference she addressed along with senior officials of the Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Prime Minister’s coordinator for climate change, Romina Khurshid Alam, gave the disheartening news that “this is just the beginning” as two more heat waves are to hit 26 districts in the second and the last weeks of June, urging federal a provincial government departments to mobilise all available resources to protect children and the elderly from heat.
Creditably for it, the Sindh government has taken the lead in launching a media campaign to raise public awareness about the necessary precautionary measures. Schools have also been closed, but a nagging problem remains prolonged power cuts, making a bad situation worse.
As NDMA’s official Dr Tayyab noted, Pakistan is ranked as the world’s fifth most vulnerable country to climate change, driven by global warming. While the recent erratic weather patterns had led to significant rainfall variations, badly impacting Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Baluchistan, the impending heat waves carry the risk of drought in regions like Tharparkar and Jacobabad, already experiencing mild drought conditions.
Meanwhile, due to rising temperatures glaciers in the northern region are melting fast, increasing by the same degree the threat of glacier lake outburst floods (GLOFs) that cause loss of life, property and livelihoods among the affected communities.
According to Scaling-up Lake Outbursts Flood Risk Reduction in Northern Pakistan, a UNDP project, over 3000 glacial lakes have developed in Gilgit-Baltistan and KP regions, of which 33 have been assessed as prone to GLOFs. That can disturb an estimated 7.1 million people.
In view of the imminent hazard the NDMA has prepared a mobile application for real-time alerts, advisories and disaster management plans. That should provide timely warning to local communities as well as tourists and other travellers to avoid risk areas. Arrangements should also be made for deployment of necessary equipment to open the roads in case of landslides, and to deal with emergencies in vulnerable areas.
As the frequency of extreme weather events increases, aside from an effective longer term disaster management plan, Pakistan needs to build climate resilient rural and urban infrastructure. That calls for additional budgetary allocations our cash-strapped economy is unable to afford at this point in time.
But Pakistan can access climate finance and also benefit from other international initiatives for combating the effects of climate change. That though can happen only if and when the government has a clearly articulated adaptation and mitigation strategy in place to get a handle on the looming threat.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024