LLF 2018: 'The ground beneath our feet' - understanding climate change
A panel of renowned environmentalists, advocates and environment journalists spoke on climate change and what challenges lay ahead for the country. Photo: Maleeha Mengal
The Lahore Literary Festival 2018 hosted many prominent guest speakers with a wide range of topics from environment, history, politics to literature and much more.
One of the most interesting sessions of the LLF 2018 was a discussion on climate change, which brought in a panel of renowned environmentalists, advocates and environment journalists speaking about their experiences in Pakistan and what challenges lay ahead for the country.
The session titled, ‘The Ground Beneath Our Feet – Coping with Climate Change’, encapsulated a thought provoking and interesting discussion on the subject.
Moderated by Rina Saeed Khan, an environment journalist and author of ‘Mountains to Mangroves’, the session included a panel featuring distinguished environmentalists such as WWF’s Director General of Pakistan Hammad Naqi, Dr. Parvez Hassan, senior advocate in the Supreme Court of Pakistan, and Paul Salopek, a renowned journalist from America and two-time winner of Pulitzer Prize.
Speaking about the dangers of climate change on Pakistan, Hammad Naqi stated there were two main components to the discussion: one, how much greenhouse gases Pakistan was emitting on a global scale. To this, Naqi specified that globally the country ranked 26. “If you look at our greenhouse emissions they are literally out of the charts.”
Second, Pakistan’s vulnerability when it comes to water and how climate change has affected water resources and human contribution in polluting it.
“Pakistan is an agricultural country, and most of the agriculture depends on irrigation. And now water is more in demand than before,” he said. “And not just in agriculture, but in sanitation and increasing industrialisation, present water resources are not enough,” Naqi stated.
Panelists from Left: Hammad Naqi, Dr. Parvez Hassan and Paul Salopek, moderated by Rina Saeed Khan. Photo: Maleeha Mengal
Furthermore, he said that in Pakistan when it comes to water resources, there are no means to reuse and recycle water, where sewage is polluting clean water channels, or industrialists are illegally pumping chemicals into the water streams.
Naqi said the reason he was talking about water was that since Pakistan was completely dependent on monsoon rains, climate change had affected the pattern of seasonal rains.
“A lot of rainfall in a short span of time results in flash floods which affects everyone and everything.”
“We are in a region, where glacier melts have brought in a new phenomenon of formation of new lakes. But due to instant rains, it turns into flash floods costing humans, livestock and economy of that region.”
Furthermore, Naqi pointed out that since irrigation is still practised in a traditional manner, there were less resources used to decrease the habit of consuming too much water.
But there is hope.
Naqi said Pakistan is one of the very few countries where there is a Minister of Climate Change and a Climate Change Commission – which has been trying to reverse the effect of climate change, enhancing the roles of various governmental departments and bringing in civil society organisations into the process.
Dr. Parvez Hassan, who has been working hard since the 90s to advocate towards the preservation of the environment in Pakistan, said: “Pakistan, today, has two most urgent issues. One is climate change and the other is population growth. Both are causing great impact on the environment.”
Hassan explained that when glaciers melt and sea levels rise, it affects everyone with floods, which Pakistan faced, displacing 20 million people. “The greatest human displacement was due to environment which awakened the government and a national plan of climate change policy was introduced.”
Advocate of human rights and environment, Hassan said: “There has to be some understanding and awareness about how climate change affects, with the majority being the poor, the marginalised, and women.”
He said that the country needed major changes to adopt more environment-friendly energy sources and to shift from the massive usage of coal.
CPEC’s impact was discussed by the panel as most of the environmentalist fear transportation and wildlife would be affected by the new wave of development under the economic corridor umbrella.
American journalist Paul Salopek has been walking across Central Asia for his project - Out of Eden Walk, following the ancient trade corridors starting from Africa through to Silk Route, while spending time in the northern parts of Pakistan understanding the impact of climate change.
On climate change Salopek shared his experiences from his travels saying that due to unpredictable seasonal rainfall in Ethiopia people were at war with each other due to fewer resources available.
Salopek discussed on the climate change effects occurring in Northern Pakistan, Photo: Maleeha Mengal
“Due to climate change, there were many territorial wars between the people, who were protecting their lands and water.”
Salopek, during his on-going journey, stated that where he saw territorial wars on water, a different picture was seen in Central Asia, especially in Kazakhstan’s desert areas, where the rains cascaded down in fast-moving water, bringing in greener grass, which was never seen by an entire generation.
In northern Pakistan, Salopek stated that due to climate change and melting glaciers incremental bonus of water had been streaming down, making the valleys greener for the first time. But he added that this water would vanish soon.
Salopek stated that as a storyteller and someone who is traveling to understand the impact of climate change, there was a need to discuss how the public can be engaged on the issue.
“Our fates are tied together,” Salopek added.
On an ending note, the panel agreed that an effective policy is needed to tackle climate change.
Dr. Hassan concluded that the judiciary has now developed a huge constituency with the environmentalists. And whether it is electromagnetic grid stations, or cutting of trees or whether it is the illegal hunting of Houbara Bustards, the judiciary is the only branch of government he looks up to for any immediate action or response.
