The securement of the "loss and damage fund" at last month's COP27 climate summit is a welcome achievement by the current coalition government due to efforts of its FM Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and one may term it as much-needed achievement.

There is no denying that climate change has devastated lives of millions in recent years in Pakistan and since 2010, the country is faced with one disaster or other due to its effects.

Now that the Lost and Damage Fund has been formed, fresh efforts must be launched at Ministerial level by Pakistan Govt regarding steps to get operational the recently announced World Loss and Damage Fund for 134 countries so that the countries grappling with Climate Change effects can get the required funds to cope with the climate change devastations in their respective countries.

"The climate stress has become severe in nature and a number of countries mainly Pakistan is the among the most vulnerable communities of globe fighting for its survival from the effects of climate change which is evident from the biblical floods in the country last summer. Climate change has been a worldwide phenomenon and a serious threat to entire world. In fact, our country has already been listed among the ten most affected nations by climate change in spite of its small contribution to greenhouse gas emissions.

According to the Long-term Global Climate Risk Index 2020, Pakistan is the fifth most affected place on earth owing to hostile impacts of climate change. A recent report by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) last year, has gone to the extent of terming climate change as existential threat to Pakistan. There is no denying the fact that Pakistan has been facing the climate change affects which evident from the adverse weather pattern in recent years. The recent biblical floods and the earlier 2010 floods,  followed by heat waves in Karachi, smog in Lahore that killed thousands and  torrential rains with cloud bursts as seen in Karachi and in Islamabad in recent years; increasingly low rainfalls in winters as seen in January last year are some of the manifestations of the climate change.

It may be recalled here that in January last our country got little rainfall in as compared to previous years, making it the 17th driest month in six decades. Again, rainfall in February was also not sufficient. So in the wake of so much devastation by climate change, it is strongly hoped that the the Loss and Damage Fund will deliver as it will bring the world nations together to jointly fight out the dangers and effects of climate change in the 134 countries which are termed to be the most vulnerable to climate impacts.

According to our Climate Change Minister Sherry Rehman, the climate devastations have become a matter of national security. In fact, the countries which are contributing to the world's pollutions that are resulting in Global warming which is an existential threat to the country must think over what they are doing to the humankind with their inept policies to not control the pollution level caused by them. Our country is surrounded by high mountains in the south where the over 7200 glaciers melting due to Global warming and water from these mountains together with abnormal rains floods the rivers and cause flash flooding which leash a reign of total destruction upon the entire populations as evident from Chitral to KP, Sindh and Balochistan. In fact, Sindh and Balochistan are the worst affected as the rains started from here and they are still in grip of flash floods as the River Indus is still in high floods at various points. In fact, the two months long monsoon rains in July and August this year were abnormal in nature and the subsequent flash floods were unprecedented in nature which can be gauged from the fact that it severely impacted over 33 million people, also resulting in more than 1,100 deaths of the people since the start of the deadly monsoon in June last. It may be recalled here that the UN Secretary General  had termed the country's catastrophic devastations as ' monsoon on steroids' as  millions are impacted badly by this unprecedented calamity that is still ravaging as is evident from the devastations in Dadu and Bahn Saeedabad where the water from Manchar Lake has wreaked havoc with the localities around.

The River Indus was  in high floods in Sindh for weeks at various points and it took months the water level to subside in the River. Millions of people are living in the open sky with very little to no food after losing their livelihoods, crops and livestock in the flash floods and being rendered shelter-less. The affected people still need food, health facilities and another emergent needs to an estimated 5.2 million flood affected people  in the country. According to the data of the  National Disaster Management Authority, as many as  72 out of the total 160 districts of the country are calamity-hit while the number of affectees stand at over  33 million , who suffered massive losses including homes, livestock, standing crops. Most disturbingly the water which was standing everywhere and which had also broken the infrastructure like the roads, bridges, barrages, railway tracks and highways also hampered the rescue and relief activities and hence only a high scale efforts  are needed whenever such a situation arises in future.

And this is not possible without the support of the UN and the world at large. The winter is upon us and in the wake of current situation is seems impossible to rehabilitate the millions by December so one can imagine the situation for himself.  As reported, more than a million houses have been washed, over 160 bridges, and as many as 3,500 kilometers of roads across the country have been washed away by flash floods and totally or partially destroyed. The number of farm animals killed by the flash floods stands at over 800,000 which are unprecedented in nature. In fact, the current flash floods are more destructive in nature than that of 2010. On the other hand, the country's food insecurity situation is going to worsen in coming months as standing crops have been damaged and the prices of food items and essentials have also skyrocketed due to the ongoing rain and floods devastations. Various studies in recent years indicated that the country's climate becoming quite uncertain and unpredictable. The glacier are melting due to increasing heat, and temperatures are rising at more speed  than that of the global average. Karachi which used to have moderate weather both in winter and summer has been experiencing extreme weather conditions in summer where heat waves have become a common occurrence in summer. The fact that Karakoram Highway, which is a significant part of Pakistan's economic corridor with China, remained shut for on many occasions due to landslides.  The same trends can be seen in rest of the country where extreme weather conditions are a common occurrence.

Published in The Daily National Courier, December, 30 2022

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