It is time for South Asia to talk about climate change

Climate change has emerged as one of the greatest developmental challenges for the 21st century. The abnormal shifts in global weather patterns threaten to not only arrest future socio-economic development but also erode the gains from previous decades.

A report by the United Nations concluded that climate change could push more than 100 million additional people into poverty by 2030. The mounting apocalyptic scientific projections and increasingly tangible global climate impacts call for immediate measures to prevent catastrophe.

Being a key driver of poverty and food insecurity, climate change poses a major challenge to developing water-based economies, especially in the South Asian region. Climatic disasters happen when hazards overlap with infrastructure and governance failures. In this regard, unplanned urbanization, rampant poverty and weak governance are some of the factors that render South Asia exceptionally vulnerable to climate risks. Over the years, these vulnerabilities have manifested themselves in the form of unprecedented death and destruction unleashed by natural calamities. Even at the time of this writing, 16 million people have been affected by seasonal flooding of historical proportions in vast swathes of South Asia including India, Nepal and Bangladesh. Similarly, heat waves have emerged as another regional hazard that has wreaked wide spread havoc in South Asian cities over the past few years. A recent study concluded that by the end of this century climate change in South Asia could lead to summer heat waves with levels of heat and humidity that exceed what humans can survive without protection.

Back home, Pakistan has also repeatedly featured in the most climate vulnerable countries in international reporting. This message was recently reiterated by the Global Climate Risk Index 2017, which placed Pakistan among the top ten countries most affected by climate change. The report further stated that countries like Pakistan that are recurrently affected by catastrophes continuously rank among the most affected countries both in the long-term risk index and in the risk index for the respective year for the last six years. There is ample evidence which suggests that our development targets are certain to be missed if climate challenge is not managed effectively.

Over the past several years Pakistan has made numerous strides in tackling climate change. Beginning with the launch of National Climate Change Policy in 2011, the policy frameworks at both national and provincial level have evolved considerably over the last few years. Similarly, some on-ground initiatives mainly focusing on reforestation, disaster risk reduction and clean energy have also yielded encouraging results. Another major milestone was the establishment of Climate Change Commission in Punjab under the directives of Lahore High Court. The historic court judgment endorsed protection from climatic hazards as the constitutional right of Pakistani citizens. This Commission has done impressive work till date to streamline and accelerate climate action in Punjab which can serve as an example for other provinces. The awareness among citizens and media coverage of climate issues has similarly displayed a positive trajectory which deserves acknowledgement. But despite a handsome list of achievements, there is still a long way to go for Pakistan.

Climate change is a quintessential cross-sectoral challenge which is most often immune to stopgap and sporadic interventions. The globally acknowledged paradigm for managing the climate challenge is the integration of climate considerations across the development spectrum, also known as climate compatible development. This implies that instead of addressing climate change in a silo, climate considerations need to be embedded across the various sectors. Hence, climate change like all challenges also presents an opportunity for a transition towards integrated governance which can precipitate socio-economic development and poverty reduction, especially in the developing regions. Making this leap of governance paradigm is the real test for countries such as Pakistan where sectors have traditionally operated in silos. There is also need for regional knowledge sharing of lessons and learnings linked to climate change issues which can enable uptake and replication of best practices. Unfortunately, such exchanges have been hampered by chronic geopolitical tensions that mar the region.

Despite the doom and gloom research studies and endless news streams of climatic catastrophes across the globe, climate change presents a historical opportunity for our civilization to adopt an equitable, resilient and sustainable development pathway. In doing so we can ensure a safer and better tomorrow for our future generations, failing is not an option.

—Khalid is a development professional. He tweets @sm_bilal