Muhammad Kamran Rifat
People across the world today are witnessing the impact of climate change on
the planet. The average temperatures are rising and causing wildfires,
hurricanes, and other disasters. All of these are difficult to ignore. The
scientists are of the considered opinion that climate change is still the
greatest threat to human health in recorded history while the world has been
plunged into a deadly pandemic. The scientists argue that everyone must treat
climate change with the same energy as they have Covid-19.
In August, when wildfires raged in the United States, Europe and Siberia
World Health Organization Director- General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in
a statement that “the risk posed by climate change could
dwarf those of any single disease.”
But climate change is not a new phenomenon. The history dates to 900-1300
when the Medieval Warm Period brought warm weather to Europe when the unusually
strong North Atlantic Oscillation brought about the extra heat. In 1709 Europe
experienced a freakishly cold winter. In 1824, French physicist Joseph Fourier
described the Earth’s natural “greenhouse effect”. He writes:
“The temperature [of the Earth] can be augmented by the interposition of
the atmosphere because the heat in the state of light finds less resistance in
penetrating the air than in re passing into the air when converted into
non-luminous heat.” In 1938 using records from 147 weather stations around
the world, British engineer Guy Callendar showed that
temperatures had risen over the previous century. He also showed that CO2
concentrations had increased over the same period and suggested that this
caused the warming. The “Callendar effect” was widely dismissed by
meteorologists.
In the 1970s the worry was for global cooling. This was because of the
theory presented by some of the scientists the pollution emitted by the people
could block sunlight and as a result cool Earth. The cooling period ended, and
the global warming threat became real in the 1980s. Experts believed that 1988
was the turning point when watershed events placed global warming on the centre
stage. The COP21 popularly known as Paris Climate Agreement saw 197 countries
pledging in 2015 to set a target for their greenhouse cuts and to report their
progress. This was the first climate change was recognized by the world and
promised vigorous efforts.
A new global agreement, the Glasgow Climate Pact, was reached at the COP26
summit concluded in November this year. It was agreed that the countries will
meet next year to pledge further cuts to emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2)
which is a major cause of climate change. For the first time in this
conference, the participating countries planned to gradually reduce and phase down
the usage of coal responsible for 40%
Air-pollution environmental concerns and problems
of annual CO2 emissions. The world leaders also agreed to phase out the
subsidies on coal, oil, or natural gas.
So, why the climate change is the greatest threat facing humanity today?
There are several factors and some of them are air pollution, extreme heat, food
insecurity, infectious diseases, and mental health. All of these are linked to
and caused by an increase in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in Earth’s
atmosphere. The burning of fossil fuels can have a direct impact on human
health. Carbon dioxide could result in an increase in the acidity in the air
which pulls more pollen from plants. This could be life-threatening for some
and could cause a long bout of seasonal allergies. At first, the researcher did
not see a direct link harmful impact of heatwaves. But now they are concerned
because the human body was not designed to cope with temperatures above 37
Celsius. Exposure to heat for a long period can cause a cascade of prob- lems
throughout the body. Food security is not the direct and harmful impact of
climate change but the disruption of the supply of food issues. According to an
Inter- governmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC) special report, crop between climate change and the yields
have already begun to decline because of rising temperatures, changing
precipitation patterns, and extreme weather events. Studies have shown that
increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere can leech plants of the nutrients
that humans need to survive. The extended heat is making the geographic region
where ticks and mosquitos like to live wider These animals are known to cause
across the world can cause health diseases like malaria, dengue fever and Zika
virus. The effects of climate change don’t occur in isolation. A
Image depicting a single, sad, dirty polar bear, floating on a dwindling
chunk of ice, in the center of vast ocean garbage patch. Image is intended to
illustrate themes like environmental degradation, ocean pollution, habitat
loss, global warming, and climate change in general.
community at any given time face air pollution, food security, diseases, and
extreme heat all at once or turn by turn in no random order.
One thing is clear that CO2 is not the only one that causes problems. It is
part of the natural global ecosystem. The real issue is the quantity of CO2
produced by humans which arethehighest in 800,000 years. We need to make a
collective effort to combat the threat of climate change. And deforestation is
not the solution.
According to German Watch, Pakistan has been ranked in the top ten of the
countries most affected by climate change in the past 20 years. The reasons
behind include the impact of back-to-back floods since 2010, the worst drought
episode (1998-2002) as well as more recent droughts in Tharparkar and
Cholistan, the intense heat wave in Karachi (in Southern Pakistan generally in
July 2015, severe windstorms in Islamabad in June 2016, increased cyclonic
activity and increased
Global environmental problems need an all-of-society effort, urged
participants of the fifth session of the UN Environment Assembly
As a first step, this needs to stop. There is still hope with the world
progressively stepping towards eco friendly solutions like electric cars,
encouraging people to use bicycles instead of cars, planning to reduce the
usage of coal and other measures. All is not lost and together we all can
reverse the impact of climate change or at best reduce it to minimum. A
collective effort is must to get the desired result.
As for Pakistan is concerned, it is vulnerable to the effects of climate
change which has occurred due to rapid industrialization with substantial
geo-political consequences. As things stand, the country is at a crossroads for
a much warmer world.
Environmental Pollution can be turned into something useful
incidences of landslides and Glacial Lake Outburst Floods in the northern
parts of the country.
Pakistan Government has evolved policy frameworks backed by strategy to
address various aspects of the climate change including major policy and
climate related interventions. In order to mitigate the negative impacts of the
automobile sector on environment and giving a boost to the national economy.
The federal government has taken different initiatives to mitigate the adverse
effects of environment and climate, in short.
Environmental concerns and issues with pollution waste and climate.