Federal Minister for Climate Change Senator Sherry Rehman on Sunday said that water stress is a very real danger for Pakistan which is causing natural disasters like melting glaciers, patchy rainfall, and silting up of the Indus River as it heads towards south.
In a series of tweets on Twitter, the Minister wrote on her official handle, “It needs immediate action to prevent crop, livestock losses. 90 % of our agriculture depends on
the Indus. No switch can be pulled overnight. Start by equity”.
The Minister also mentioned a news report link saying, “The UN lists Pakistan among ‘drought-hit’ countries – And rightly points out the need for urgent financing for 23 countries facing desertification. We also need capacity to even seek such financing, which is pledged at big tent conferences but never disbursed”.
She added that the equitable distribution of water as per the 1991 accord; budgeting for rain harvesting; switching to drip irrigation instead of flood irrigation; lining of canals; lifestyle changes to conserve water; recharging the Indus; stopping seawater intrusion at delta, and planting more mangroves to ward off the adverse effects of environmental degradation.
She further said last year they (previous regime of PTI) slashed the budgets of
Ministry of Climate Change , adding, “and I protested on their behalf despite being in opposition.
In this time of economic fragility I don’t know what’s possible in terms of expanding budgets. But working on upscaling core priorities to adaptation, sorely needed”.
Environmentalist urges governments to declare ‘Climate Emergency’ for addressing heatwave: Chairperson Subh-e-Nau, ShahidaKausar Farooq, an NGO working for environmental issues has appealed to the federal and provincial governments to immediately impose an environment emergency in the country to deal with the devastating effects of global warming in Cholistan, Gwadar and DeraBugti areas.
In a statement, Mrs Farooq said that environmentalists around the world have been warning for decades that global warming could cause sudden changes in the weather around the world. It was being predicted that changes would happen and the world might face famine as a result, she noted,
In addition, she[Shahida Farooq] also added that “the warmest months of April and May have made these predictions come true”, ”
“We need to take revolutionary steps today,” she said.
Urging to understand the responsibilities related to changing weather patterns, she lamented that “Animals are dying of thirst in the famine-stricken areas. We need to change our priorities and take immediate steps to meet the challenges of the rapidly changing weather patterns.”
She said that glaciers were melting due to extreme heat, which could lead to floods in the country.
She urged the Federal Minister for Climate Change Sherry Rehman to take notice of this situation.
