Impact of Climate Change and Urgent Solution

In the era of capitalism besides the world being hasty, climate-induced problems came to light as a global threat for all the states; however, repercussions are more devastating for the third world countries, demarcating the North-South division. For instance, according to the report “Born into Climate Crisis” and “Children Climate Risk Index”, Pakistan is one of 33 enlisted countries who are going to bear the brunt of climate change drastically, surprisingly summated emission of greenhouse gases of these countries is less than 10 per cent. It is symptomatic in this capitalistic world, the biggest culprit is the most blessed one. Insurgency is not a big problem for Pakistan but an ecological disaster, as claimed by an iconic writer, Anatol Lieven, in his book: “Pakistan: As a hard country”. The question can come to mind: Why are the biggest emitters of greenhouses exempted from facing the drastic repercussions of global warming as third-world countries?

 To nosedive the gravity of climate-induced issues, a sustainable economy is a prerequisite, a dream of Pakistan since ever its establishment, although the geographical features of various countries are diverse. In the context of Pakistan, climate change is explicitly devastating its socio-economic circumstances and what’s more political issues, such as IDPs in the meantime of natural disasters prove as social deviant and mismanagement of political decorum. In the economic loss, floods, heatwaves and wildfires are lessening the production of crops, and what’s more animal lives have been challenged. Rural to Urban migration is catching the gravity of drastic consequences, wrecking the infrastructure of the country. We have witnessed this nitty-gritty in the past, Pakistan faced the loss of 10$ billion dollars in the flood of 2010, as claimed by the World Bank.  

The most important thing is that climate-induced issues are prompting populism, opposite to democracy, besides increasing tensions with neighboring countries on natural resources. For instance, the Indus River is a pivotal and crucial source of agriculture for the whole country, but with the surging rate of global warming, glaciers are melting so rapidly that it can be prognosticated: that in the next years the flow of water will be slow in this river where India is already thinking to build a dam unilaterally. As the PM of India, Modi said: Blood and water cannot flow together, by the way, India is limited by Nepal in Kalapani Dispute and Bangladesh on Feni river besides Gange’s water contention. Again the question is: In 2017, Donald Trump expelled his country from the Paris Agreement, needless to say, was in its favor, but why now in the tenure of Biden, the superpower ready to limit its emissions?

In the world of materialism and war of resources, bigwigs pretend to be human-centric but actuality lies in their egotistical interests. Unfortunately, to reduce the gravity of this global threat: global warming, we need foreign aid because we do not have the institutional capacity to resolve this issue. Pakistan, therefore, need 200 billion dollars for “National Determined Contribution”, declaring our country as a rentier state. How can a rentier state in the era of geo-economics have a sound international standing in the world?

In the nutshell, climate change is inducing catastrophic situations not only in present but also in future, and this world threat is one of the reasons who compels us to think us the future of the world can be in the form of De-globalization, a world of populism and unilateral approach. This country is being a part of debt trap diplomacy by the regional and the world bigwigs, diving into full-blown economic and political crises. Rightly pointed out by Environmentalists, Eco-Feminists and Marxists, this capitalist system is responsible for these climate-induced issues which unbridles the world vis-à-vis fulfilling their lust for surplus accommodation in the name of competition. And the need of the hour is that a binding- mode of international agreements, especially for rich countries, ought to be formulated if a pragmatic solution is required. Similarly, in the presence of an arbitrator, the Indus Water Treaty should be revitalized to dwindle the tassel of two neighboring countries: Pakistan and India.      

Written by Toqueer Niaz

Human Activist at Punjab University

                                        

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