Climate Change In Pakistan

One fifth of the world’s population is located in south Asia. It is the most disposed region in the world. The majority of the poor people also lived there. There is a big figure of undernourished people according to FAO 2009.Climate change appeared as the single most persistent issue dominating society on a global basis, with severe consequences 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) disturbs a number of physical, chemical and living processes that vigor the yield of agricultural, forestry and fisheries systems (Easterling et al. 2007). Climate

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