Pakistan placed 5th on Climate Risk Index due to 2010 flood losses: Amin Aslam
The adviser said economic cost of climate change for Pakistan was second highest in the world.
ISLAMABAD (APP) – Adviser to the Prime Minister on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam Tuesday said Pakistan was placed at 5th by German Watch in its Climate Risk Index 2020 due to huge economic losses borne by the country.
The shift in Pakistan’s position from 7th to 5th in the long term index, based on the 20 years data from 1999 to 2018, including the 2010 super floods causing massive life and financial losses, showed that the country was most vulnerable to climate change, he told newsmen at a debriefing on the United Nations 25th Conference of Parties (COP-25) on Climate Change here at the Sustainable Development Institute.
The adviser said the economic cost ($3.2billion) of climate change for Pakistan was the second highest in the world. The German Watch report had included Pakistan, Philippines and Haiti in its lists of both long and short term climate change affected countries, he added.
He said the sixth assessment report of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was also launched at the COP-25. The report, which included six Pakistanis in its authors, also placed Pakistan among the most vulnerable countries, he added.
Amin Aslam said the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) at two side events at the COP-25, presented its report on the high altitude ecosystems, showing that one fourth of the world population was affected due to environmental degradation in those ecosystems.
The report, he said, projected that if the overall world temperature rose by 1°C n then mountain areas’ temperature would rise by 6°C.
The ICIMOD, in its report on 36 rivers of the world, mentioned that the Indus River was the most affected due to climate change, he added.
The adviser said it transpired from the plenary discussion at the conference all the countries facing threat to their high altitude ecosystems should form a ‘mountain alliance’. “Pakistan endorsed the proposal and expressed willingness to share its data for research and study to mitigate the risk,” he added.
