PBF for multi-pronged approach to overcome climate challenges
Pakistan
PBF for multi-pronged approach to overcome climate challenges
LAHORE (Dunya News) - Pakistan Businesses Forum (PBF) has called for adopting a multi-pronged approach to overcome the challenges posed by climatic changes and global warming.
Pakistan has suffered climate-induced damages up to US $14.9 billion, therefore effective and viable strategy is inevitable to cope with the challenges due to global warming.
PBF Additional Secretary General for the Case Studies and Research Unit, Dr Urwa Elahi expressed these views while talking to APP here Sunday.
Dr Urwa Elahi added that a recent Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) of the 2022 floods estimated total damage in excess of US$ 14.9 billion and total economic losses of around US $ 15.2 billion, a near knock-out blow to economic growth.
She mentioned that according to a World Bank Report titled ‘Country Climate and Development’, issued last month, “The estimated financial needs for post-floods rehabilitation and reconstruction amount to at least US$ 16.3 billion. And this does not include the much-needed new investments required to support Pakistan’s adaptation to climate change and build resilience to protect the country from future climate shocks.”
As a direct consequence of the floods, she added, the national poverty rate was projected to increase by 3.7 to 4 percent, pushing an additional 8.4 to 9.1 million people into poverty.
Dr. Urwa Elahi said that climate change had placed Pakistan at a crossroad; the country faced the challenge of encompassing the third biggest ice mass in the world and simultaneously, confronting temperatures that were surging sharply as a result of global warming.
The PBF Additional Secretary General noted that around 30 million people had been affected in Pakistan and the potential damage was consistently on the rise. “It is a sight of misery to see people, livestock and infrastructure drowned under 10 or more feet of water.
Havoc has been wrought by collapsing bridges, falling roofs and walls that cave-in because it is not able to withstand the influx and magnitude of the gushing water that carries in it all forms of materials from stones, woods to heavy metals,” she expounded.
Dr Urwa added that buildings, roads and infrastructure had been completely swept away with the flood streams leaving behind submerged area akin to flood plains. The number of affectees was soaring and hundreds had lost their lives while thousands were injured and millions displaced with their houses turned to debris.
She further explained that high temperatures warming the Arabian Sea coupled with the weather warping effects of La Nina brought deadly precipitation in Pakistan, where glacial melt further added to the misery. “Even more worrisome is the fact that the torrential rains and the potential risk of floods remains a threat even now. Extreme floods are followed by extreme droughts as water tends to flow into the sea during floods, rather than seeping into the soil,” she maintained.
PBF’s Dr Urwa Elahi further said that recent flash floods had jolted the country’s already dwindling economy along with many other crucial sectors including food, agriculture, health and infrastructure.
The Human Security Index hit its lowest in the wake of the natural disaster that simultaneously opened multiple fronts for the government, requiring immediate attention. The hardest hit is the agricultural sector that faced an unprecedented loss of assortments as 50 percent of crops were washed away with the floods,” she added.
“According to NASA, around two million acres of cropland and orchards have also been lost.
Unfortunately, 45 percent of the farmland is under water, indicating a future shortage of food in the country on account of losing ready to harvest yields,” Dr Urwa Elahi mentioned. She said that farmers mourned that the flood had pushed them back at least half a century and that devastation of this scale had never been witnessed even by their elders.
The PBF Additional Secretary General asserted that on the ground, the lack of discipline during the distribution of aid items causes chaos and stampede that deprives many of this urgently needed support. Scarce health facilities were also a matter of great concern, as this signalled an impending medical emergency in the near future, she added.
Dr Urwa Elahi suggested, “A multi-pronged approach must be devised to tackle the contingent devastation and overcome the exposed fault-lines for the future.” She was of the view that timely effective steps in the right direction by all the departments concerned were the only way to do away with future challenges of climate change and global warming.
