Climate change to cost Pakistan up to $14 billion annually

Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: Climate change could cost the economy of Pakistan up to $14 billion each year for natural disasters and other losses, which is almost 5 percent of the country’s gross domestic product, this was stated by Former Federal State Minister for Environment Malik Amin Aslam.

He was addressing a seminar titled ‘Outcomes of Post Durban Climate Change Negotiations’ organised by Centre of Excellence, Environmental Economics and Climate Change, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) here on Thursday to discuss the implications of these negotiations on Pakistan as climate change is directly impacting the economy of Pakistan.

While speaking on the occasion, PIDE Vice Chancellor Rashid Amjad said that unfortunately such global conferences are becoming a futile exercise as all member countries either developed or developing want to safeguard their own agendas and individual benefits.

“However, there is a strong need to understand that instead of upholding individual interests and blaming one another for GHG emissions we should look for practical and collective preventive measures as climate change is a threat for the entire world,” he said.

While giving a detailed presentation on the occasion Aslam said that the Durban Climate Change Negotiations were a very important platform to discuss the three challenges like resuscitate the Kyoto Protocol, deliver climate finance to vulnerable countries and how to survive in the overall economic recession.

Talking about its implication on Pakistan he said that Pakistan is a very low emitter but one of the worst victims of climate change, as according to Germanwatch places Pakistan as ‘most affected’ for 2010 and in top 10 for 1990-2010.

He said that Pakistan was focused on its red lines like it should be included in extreme climate vulnerability definition to scope climate finance and ensured its development pathway not be constrained, which we achieved so far, he claimed.

He added that Pakistan is highly vulnerable to climate change but on the other hand a country with a sharply rising emissions future.

He explained that basic vulnerability of Pakistan is that it is in the region of glacial melting zone, which means living in a neighbourhood of unavoidable ‘vulnerability’ with main issue being ‘water’.

He said in Pakistan maximum natural disasters (90 percent) are climate related and the damage costs of these natural disasters is going up with the top three disasters occurring in the past three years, most alarming thing is that the frequency of these natural disasters is going up with 60 percent occurring in the past 10 years.

Talking about the Durban Negotiations he lamented, “All tough decisions frustratingly delayed like the final shape of 2nd CP of Kyoto Protocol was delayed till 2012, emission cuts on carbon polluter countries delayed till 2020, decisions on how large the cuts would be till 2015, delivery of climate finance till 2020 but only thing rescued was ‘a fruitless negotiation process’.”

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