Plant a Tree in Karachi - Help Climate Change

Fierce hurricanes, heat waves, floods and wildfires ravaged the planet in 2017, as scientists said the role of climate change in causing or worsening certain natural disasters has grown increasingly clear.

The world is currently on track for its third warmest year in modern times.

Experts say global warming can make certain events, like floods, drought and hurricanes, more frequent and sometimes worse.

The changing climate pattern around the globe poses a formidable threat to dwellers of the earth and though there is a growing consciousness about this potential weapon of mass destruction, very little has been done in concrete terms to prevent this disaster. Not only small and developing countries like Pakistan are the worst sufferers in view of their inability to cope with the weather related disasters like flash floods, it is also adversely affecting the affluent countries as well, in the shape of freak weather, hurricanes and severe flooding of the settled areas.

Among the fiercest storms seen this year were severe monsoon rains in Bangladesh, India and Nepal that killed more than 1,200 people and affected 40 million people, destroying homes, livestock and crops, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Spain and Portugal have grappled with a deadly drought that dried up rivers, killed crops and fueled wildfires.

Meanwhile, an unusually active hurricane season roiled the Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean with 17 big storms, the most since 2005.

Major, deadly hurricanes included Harvey, which flooded Texas with 50 inches (125 centimetres) of rain in some places. The massively powerful Irma devastated the Caribbean and Florida, while Maria flattened much of Puerto Rico.

The industrialised nations who are responsible for emission of heat-trapping gases also known as greenhouse gases into the atmosphere leading to global warming and consequent climate changes, must not only address this issue seriously but also help the developing nations in coping with the consequences of global warming. Environment scientist believe that if these emissions are not reduced or controlled the global temperature might register a rise between 1.1 to 6.5 centigrade by the end of the twenty first century with all the accompanying cataclysmic consequences for the entire humanity. The major contributors to the global warming are US, China, Russia, UK, Germany, Australia, Canada, Japan and Korea.

Pakistan is among the top ten most affected countries on the Global Climate Risk Index (CRI, 2016), and currently faces a number of climate-related challenges, including rising temperatures, unpredictable changes in precipitation patterns, increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, recurring droughts and floods, groundwater pollution, rising sea levels, potential for heightened conflicts over water rights between riparian regions, increased health risks due to changes in disease vectors, environmental degradation, especially of water-related ecosystems, declining agricultural productivity, and governance issues associated with these stresses.

The minimum and maximum temperatures during summers and winters have increased throughout the country. While the temperatures have risen, the summer season has become prolonged and winter has become shorter. The heat wave period has also increased by 31 days during the years 1980 to 2007.

Climate change also adversely affects livestock production, which could decline 20 to 30 percent due to rising temperatures, leading to crises in meat, milk and poultry supplies – pushing prices beyond the reach of the average Pakistani.

The agricultural sector would lose 2 to 15 billion dollars per annum due to climate change by the end of the 21st century.

Understanding the importance of climate change the government of Pakistan is also taking this challenge very seriously and a full-fledged ministry of climate change has been established to deal with the issue. Though the subject has been devolved to the provinces through eighteenth amendment but the federal government has taken upon the responsibility of providing a policy framework in line with the global commitments and obligations.

Pakistan is the 5th country in the world to have created a separate ministry of Climate Change and having done legislation for the establishment of Climate Change Council and Climate Change Authority. It has formulated new Forest and Wildlife Policies besides setting up Global Change Impact Study Centre, the research arm of the ministry. The ministry has also been organising international conferences on climate change in Pakistan and its representatives including the minister have also been attending similar conference at the global level

The remedy to mitigate the impact of climate change undoubtedly lies in planting more and more trees. Unfortunately the area under forests in Pakistan is only 5% of the total land mass whereas as per the global standards it should be more than 20%. 

Keeping this in mind, we believe that its our duty to plant as much trees as we could and that’s why we began this programme where we are planting trees in Karachi and have made it our top priority for 2018.

We want to fight climate change but need help for that which we seek from our wonderful donors like you all. Please spread the word and donate as whole planet could benefit from this movement.