The unfortunate terrorists attack in Paris and the brutal killing of more than 120 innocent lives had such an enormous impact that the world media started counting it as the worst atrocity in France after the World War-II. World leadership reacted promptly with much needed solidarity with the victim families by turning on lights after the Eiffel tower put them off in grief.
Unexpectedly, despite the big loss and declared emergency, the president of France announced the county will not cease the Paris Negotiations.
The decision had stunned international community in circumstances when the France borders were sealed given the severity of Paris incident. Someone who understands the reality of climate change can imagine how important this decision was by the French president.
In profound solidarity with the people of France, it is safe to say that the threat of Climate Change is worse than incidents like Paris terror attacks. According to James Hansen, Former Director, NASA Goddard Institute of Space Studies, “the energy trapped by man-made global warming pollution is now equivalent to exploding 400,000 Hiroshima atomic bombs per day, 365 days per year”. This is no doubt, a disastrous energy to bear with.
Countering terrorism of any form has now become indispensable global need. If that’s the case, climate change is nothing less than terrorism. Scientists believe that the 2 Degree Celsius global warming threshold has to be maintained to avoid dangerous catastrophes like the 2010 floods in Pakistan and the 2015 heat waves of Karachi and India.
The decision of French president had confirmed the urgency of climate crisis. The dangerous greenhouse gases (GHG) have reached the level of 400 ppm in atmosphere against the scientifically safe limit of 450 ppm. Exceeding this limit would mean crossing the 2 Degree C threshold and allowing frequent and disastrous incidents like powerful cyclones, sea level rise, massive flooding and deeper droughts.
Environmentalists have long debated over the urgency of climate crisis. Pakistan is one of the most affected countries due to climate change as confirmed by the German Watch index. Dr. Qamar Zaman Chaudhry, the former head of the Pakistan Meteorological Department, in a conference in Lahore has warned that disturbance to our glaciers system due to global warming can put our water, food and energy security at higher risks.
Just a few months back, a report was presented to the Senate standing committee on Science and Technology confirming that the 31,000 acres of coastal area in Badin has already disappeared due to sea level rise.
Pakistan submitted its “Intended Nationally Determined Contribution” (INDC) to UNFCCC which is a domestic climate action plan each UN member nation was supposed to submit as part of Paris Agreement . Unfortunately, the plan didn’t present any specific plan to deal with climate crisis. The main reason behind this incomplete plan was stated as lack of authentic data that could verify emission of GHGs from various sectors like agriculture, industries etc.
The Government of Pakistan has however indicated positively that it will carry out a comprehensive study to assess such data and revise its INDC which is aligned with National Climate Change Policy 2012 and Pakistan Vision 2025.
Pakistan’ contribution in global carbon emission is less than a percent with 135th world ranking in terms of its per capita carbon emission. The Federal Climate Change Ministry of Pakistan has a huge task on its shoulder to present a more realistic and achievable INDC so we can join international community and fight climate crisis.
At the same time its important to all UN member countries, especially those major carbon polluters, not only fulfill their promises they made in the Paris Agreement but also increase their commitment to reduce GHGs emission to the level essential to keep global average temperature increase by 1.5 Degree Celsius.