Climate change

Climate change in Pakistan is a major issue for the country. Pakistan]] is highly vulnerable to climate change. As with the changing climate in South Asia as a whole, the climate of Pakistan has changed over the past several decades, with significant impacts on the environment and people.

The rapidly emerging climatic changes are one of the biggest threats to the sustainability of life on Earth. The phenomenon of global warming is a major cause of environmental degradation. The enhanced discharge of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in our outer atmosphere due to fossil fuel combustion leads to a rise in

According to German Watch, Pakistan has been ranked globally in the top ten countries most affected by climate change in the past 20 years owing to its geographical location. According to the Global Climate Risk Index annual report for 2020, Pakistan has lost 0.53 percent per unit GDP, suffered economic losses worth US$ 3792.52 million and witnessed 152 extreme weather events from 1999 to 2018. Akin to this, ADB analysis shows that the socioeconomic costs of environmental degradation are considerable with climate adaptation

1 needsrangingbetween$7billionand$14billionperyear. Thegovernmentbeingcognizant

of the situation is taking measures at policy, management and operational levels to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change in the country.

The Government has launched the Eco-system Restoration Initiative (ESRI) for facilitating the transition towards environmentally resilient Pakistan by mainstreaming adaptation and mitigation through ecologically targeted initiatives. These include afforestation, biodiversity conservation, enhancing policy environment consistent with the objectives of Pakistan's Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) and attaining Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN). The objective of this initiative is to establish an independent, transparent and comprehensive financial mechanism in Pakistan called "Eco-system Restoration Fund (ESRF)"to finance the projects and programmes. Ministry of Climate Change (MoCC) has taken the following major initiatives:

The Pakistan delegation at COP-25 secured 06 positions for various committees under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) showing trust on Pakistan's commitment to climate negotiations.

The NDC Partnership is supporting Pakistan in mapping out its climate events ....

besides polluting the air. Climate change affects human life as well as the economy by causing disruption in Earth's climatic processes resultantly leading to floods, famines, droughts and cyclones among other natural disasters. In Pakistan, climatic changes are expected to have wide-ranging impacts, such as: reduced agricultural productivity, increased variability of water availability, increased coastal erosion and sea water incursion, and

Earth's average temperature

increased frequency of extreme climate