Adapting to survive |
RECENT catastrophic storms in Southeast Asia and Sri Lanka caused severe floods, infrastructure damage, and loss of life; Pakistan experienced the same phenomenon in 2022. Experts warn us that Pakistan will bear the brunt of climate change in the future, even though we contribute less than one per cent of global carbon emissions. Is there any reason to hope, as our glaciers melt and our deltas die, that our children will have a future?
There is, if we pay attention and take action now. Thanks to heightened awareness about climate change, government cooperation and civic involvement in the energy crisis, the government’s reduction of tariffs on imported solar panels spurred national and community mobilisation which put us on the path to optimal solarisation. Today, despite our poor energy policies and our reliance on fossil fuels, Pakistan has become the world’s fourth or fifth largest solarised nation.
Eminent global health experts Dr Zulfiqar Bhutta and Dr Jai Das are co-editors of the newly launched book Climate Change and Water-Related Challenges in Pakistan: Tangible Solutions. Its 12 chapters examine how climate stressors are “undermining freshwater resources, public health systems and livelihoods across Pakistan”. A copy of........