Climate change: humanity’s greatest threat

Written by: Laiba Khan

Article: Climate change: humanity’s greatest threat. Climate Change refers to the long-term changes in the earth’s average weather patterns, including temperature, precipitation, and wind patterns, over decade or longer. These changes can be due to natural causes such as volcanic eruptions and variations in solar radiation, but in recent times, human activities like the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, and industrial processes have been the primary drivers of climate change. Alteration in land use, such as urbanisation, agricultural expansion, and soil degradation, can release stored carbon into the atmosphere and disrupt natural carbon sequestration processes, exacerbating climate change. Deforestation, primarily for agriculture, logging, and urbanisation, reduces the number of trees available to absorb carbon dioxide, leading to the increased atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases. Improper disposal of organic waste in landfills generates methane emissions as the waste decomposes anaerobically. In addition, waste incinerations releases carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Climate change leads to wide range of effects, including rising sea levels, more frequent and severe extreme weather events, shifts in precipitation patterns, loss of biodiversity, and disruption to ecosystem and economies. Climate change can alter large scale wind patterns such as the jet stream. This can affect weather system and precipitation distribution across regions. Climate change can exacerbate health issues such as respiratory and cardiovascular diseases due to poor air quality. It can also increase the spread of vector-borne diseases like malaria and dengue fever. Pakistan like other developing countries is extremely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Pakistan relies heavily on fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas for energy production, this results in significant emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Industrial processes in Pakistan, such as cement production and steel manufacturing, contribute to emissions of carbon dioxide and other pollutants. In addition to increased heat, drought and extreme weather in parts of the country, the melting of glaciers in the Himalayas has impacted some of the important rivers of Pakistan. Climate change is causing glaciers to melt at an accelerated rate, leading to increased water scarcity, particularly during the dry season. Rising sea levels threaten Pakistan’s coastal areas, including Karachi, with increased risk of coastal erosion, saltwater intrusion into freshwater sources, and inundation of low-lying areas. This poses risk to human settlements, infrastructure, and coastal ecosystems. The carbon sinks are degrading fast as the country has low forest cover with a high rate of deforestation of about 0.2-0.4% per annum. Climate change played a substantial role in devastating floods of 2022, which had a direct impact on over 30 million people in Pakistan, resulting in the loss of lives, damage to public infrastructure and displacement from homes. Climate change exacerbates health risks in Pakistan, including heat-related illnesses, waterborne diseases following floods, and malnutrition due to agricultural impacts. Pakistan’s agriculture sector faces major challenges due to climate change, which is projected to decrease yields of key crops like cotton, wheat, sugarcane, maize, and rice. This could have serious implications for food security and the economy, as these crops are essential for domestic consumption and exports. In May 2022, Pakistan and India experienced an extreme heatwave, the temperature reached 51°C. Scientific studies indicate that climate change has made such extreme heatwave a hundred times more probable. These scorching temperature not only pose immediate danger to human health and safety but also serve as a stark reminder of the urgent need to address the underlying causes of climate change. To address these challenges, Pakistan has developed climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies, including water management initiatives, afforestation programs, disaster risk reduction measures, and renewable energy projects.

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Everyone can contribute to fighting climate change through actions like reducing energy consumption, using public transport or carpooling, recycling, and supporting policies that promote environmental sustainability. Climate change could be irreversible by 2030. Without urgent action, the world’s coral reefs could be completely eradicated. Addressing climate change requires urgent global cooperation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and transition to sustainable practices. This includes investing in renewable energy sources, improving energy efficiency, and conserving natural resources. Only through concerted International efforts we can hope to mitigate the devastating effects of climate change and protect the well-being of current and future generations.