By Dr Syeda Sultana Rizvi
November 6, 2022
Global warming is supercharging extreme weather at an astonishing speed, and it’s visible all over the world. The stress caused by unbridled and untamed CO2 emissions is accelerating the toll of extreme weather across the planet. People are losing lives and livelihoods due to more deadly and more frequent heatwaves, floods, wildfires and droughts triggered by the climate crisis.
This year catastrophic floods in Pakistan have caused colossal human and financial losses. The country is now faced with huge, short and long-term effects on its economy. After visiting the devastated areas U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had urged the international community to address loss and damage with the seriousness it deserves.
Though Pakistan suffered the most in 2022, the spectacular expression of symptoms of global warming created havoc in many other areas too. The disturbances in weather cycles due to climate change are also increasing the intensity and frequency of Africa’s rains, according to United Nations climate experts. This year, a La Niña weather pattern caused above-average rainfall in parts of Central and West Africa, causing deadly floods that have affected millions and submerged farmland in 19 countries and in East Africa, the worst drought in 40 years.
The countries affected due to climate change and have not contributed significantly to the problem, demand that wealthy nations that have emitted most of the carbon dioxide historically, fuelling climate change, should compensate for the ‘loss and damage’ faced by them as they are the least prepared for the climate change impacts.
Hopes are anchored with the upcoming COP 27, which began on the 6th of November. As the pressure grew from vulnerable countries to prioritize this issue, the compensation for economic losses due to climate catastrophes has been included on the summit agenda, after hectic efforts.
Inclusion of “loss and damage” on the agenda is seen as a complicated task. As lower-income climate-vulnerable countries seek compensation for damages from climate-induced extreme weather events, industrialized nations are wary of creating a fund because of the liabilities they may face.
At COP26 in Glasgow, last year, the United States and the European Union rejected calls for a fund to compensate countries for climate-driven losses. But as different countries grapple with extreme weather this year, pressure is growing for “loss and damage” to be prioritized at COP27.
Compensation is extremely important for Pakistan, because despite only 1% share of CO2 the country is among the top 10 most vulnerable countries. Recent floods that swept away 2 million homes have effected over 33 million people including 16 million children. 7 million people have been displaced amidst life-threatening situations like drowning in water and injuries from debris and are faced with hunger and outbreak of diseases.
The most tragic, of course, is the loss of over 1600 human lives. More dead bodies might be recovered once the water recedes completely, which is followed by the misery of survivors and the impact on livelihood. The economy has encountered a loss of more than 40 billion dollars. The destruction of infrastructure and public facilities besides the damage to food and cash crops is a big blow to the economy.
According to UNICEF 3.4 million children, faced with increased risk and life-threatening situations need assistance. Having no choice but to dwell close to stagnant water they are exposed to outbreaks of diseases like diarrhoea, typhoid, and malaria. Many of the hardest-hit areas are amongst the most vulnerable in Pakistan, where children already suffer from high rates of malnutrition and poor access to water and sanitation.
Serious food shortage is impending not only for flood-hit areas but for the entire country as the inundations caused by heavy monsoon rains, since late July this year, have wiped out huge swaths of crops including food crops. The personal grain storages that the majority of the rural population rely on, round the year, are also washed away. Thus leaving already impoverished families in the worst situation.
Crops on 4 million acres have been completely destroyed. Nearly 15 percent of Pakistan’s rice crop and 40 percent of its cotton crop have been lost. Baluchistan, the Southern Punjab and Sindh have been hit hardest where 80 percent of the rice crop and 70 percent of cotton were destroyed, unleashing huge impact on the livelihoods of the small farmers.
In this situation, Pakistan is compelled to import wheat and other food items. With its huge population, the country may have to import as much as 2.5 million tons of wheat in the next year. Any delay in the import of wheat may cause a food shortage. Importing food in the present global circumstances of soaring prices of food commodities is even more challenging when the country is strapped for foreign exchange.
The financial situation of Pakistan will further be affected as flooding has caused a blow to important cash crops. This means lower exports of rice, which earned $2 billion in the previous year. Cotton losses could hurt the country’s biggest export, textiles, and clothes, which brought in more than $20 billion annually in recent years.
The situation calls for a set of matching global action at the COP 27. Previously at COP 26, the response of major polluters failed to match the scale of the climate crisis. It could be inferred that the biggest polluters, despite mounting evidence of deadly climate events such as heatwaves, droughts, and floods, are still not willing to compromise on a trade-off between economic growth and saving the planet.
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