Development Advocate Pakistan: Volume 2, Issue 4

Development Advocate Pakistan: Volume 2, Issue 4

February 24, 2016

2015 will be remembered for two landmark global agreements. In September, UN member states endorsed the 2030 Development Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals. Later in the year, 196 parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change adopted the Paris Agreement at the conclusion of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP21) in France. 

2015 will also be remembered as the warmest on record with temperature rises breaking the 10 C milestone above pre-industrial era average. A heat wave swept the globe including Sindh, where 2,000 perished, reminding us of the increased intensity and frequency of climatic events and its growing impact on development, particularly the poor and vulnerable.

Pakistan is the eighth most vulnerable country to CC although it contributes less than 0.5 percent to global GHG emissions. Events like the 2010 floods resulted in the loss of 2000 human lives and economic losses equivalent to seven percent of the GDP reconfirm that climate change is the most pressing and immediate development threat faced by this country. There is a clear and visible shift in summer monsoon trends from north-east to north-west by a range of 80-100 km, threatening the agriculture sector. Increasing frequency of other extreme weather events like cyclones, droughts and glacial lake outburst floods show that Pakistan is becoming increasingly vulnerable to climate change.

The so far evidence on CC affirms that no will remain untouched of its consequences. Developing countries will be most affected. It is time to act together. As UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said, “there is no plan B, because there is no planet B”. 

Feedback Evaluation for DAP:

We are conducting a review of Development Advocate Pakistan in order to assess its impact over its first two years of being published. We request you to take out ten minutes from your valuable time and fill the online feedback evaluation form available at:

https://goo.gl/CtSDEj

 

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