South Asia, is home to over one fifth of the world’s population and is known to be the most disaster prone region in the world. It is also home to a majority of the world’s poor. According to FAO (2009), 1.02 billion people are undernourished worldwide in 2009. About 456 million people in South Asia are estimated to be undernourished. In the recent past, climate change emerged as the single most pressing issue facing society on a global basis, with serious implications for the food security of billions of people in the developing countries. The inter-annual, monthly and daily distribution of climate variables (e.g., temperature, radiation, precipitation, water vapor pressure in the air and wind speed) affects a number of physical, chemical
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Millions of people every year are affected by it. Although Pakistan has negligible contribution in global carbon emissions, it is high among the list of countries that are suffering from climate change. German watch, a NGO that publishes an annual Global Risk Index of countries most vulnerable to climate related disasters, in 2010 listed Pakistan as the number one most affected country in the world. And in 2011 & 2012, Pakistan was ranked as number three in the list of countries hardest hit by weather disasters because of Climate Change. Pakistan is used to suffering from multiple crises at a time, news headlines are usually dominated by issues like terrorism, injustice, extremism, political unrest and power shortages etcetera. But the dangerous threat we all know as climate change has been virtually left off the radar when it comes to issues of national priority. Environmental issues have always found little space in Pakistan, mainly due to mass unawareness within the political culture of the country. Studies from the Pakistan Metrological Department shows dramatic changes in Pakistan’s climate, such as; 10 to 15% decrease in rainfall in the coastal belts and hyper arid plains, 18-32% increase in rainfall in the monsoons zone, especially in the sub-humid and humid areas 0.5 to 0.7% increase in solar radiation over southern half of the country, 3 to 5% decrease in cloud cover in Central Pakistan, with increase in sunshine hours 17 to 64% departure of rainfall from normal during EL Nino events, increase in frequency of extreme events such as heavy rains, storms, heat waves, cold waves, cyclone and flash floods, significant shift in weather patterns/monsoon, change in availability of irrigation water, less snowfall
Millions of people every year are affected by it. Although Pakistan has negligible contribution in global carbon emissions, it is high among the list of countries that are suffering from climate change. German watch, a NGO that publishes an annual Global Risk Index of countries most vulnerable to climate related disasters, in 2010 listed Pakistan as the number one most affected country in the world. And in 2011 & 2012, Pakistan was ranked as number three in the list of countries hardest hit by weather disasters because of Climate Change. Pakistan is used to suffering from multiple crises at a time, news headlines are usually dominated by issues like terrorism, injustice, extremism, political unrest and power shortages etcetera. But the dangerous threat we all know as climate change has been virtually left off the radar when it comes to issues of national priority. Environmental issues have always found little space in Pakistan, mainly due to mass unawareness within the political culture of the country. Studies from the Pakistan Metrological Department shows dramatic changes in Pakistan’s climate, such as; 10 to 15% decrease in rainfall in the coastal belts and hyper arid plains, 18-32% increase in rainfall in the monsoons zone, especially in the sub-humid and humid areas 0.5 to 0.7% increase in solar radiation over southern half of the country, 3 to 5% decrease in cloud cover in Central Pakistan, with increase in sunshine hours 17 to 64% departure of rainfall from normal during EL Nino events, increase in frequency of extreme events such as heavy rains, storms, heat waves, cold waves, cyclone and flash floods, significant shift in weather patterns/monsoon, change in availability of irrigation water, less snowfall