KARACHI: A recently formed committee led by a senior environmental and agricultural expert and secretary general of Pakistan Medical Association (PMA), demanded that all political parties must incorporate the issues of environmental degradation and climate change in their election manifestos.
According to a report published by a local English newspaper, it stated that the importance of these issues need to be highlighted as it is affecting people in different ways.
Moreover, the regional expert for South Asia, Global Water Partnership and Pakistan Water Partnership Director Dr Pervaiz Amir said that the political and religious parties have started their election campaigns but are ignoring these issues in their programmes.
It was reported that the environmental issues like rising temperatures, droughts, melting of glaciers, agriculture loss etc are all related to climate change and are expected to intensify with each passing day. Dr Amir also stated that poverty and malnutrition will also intensify due to the same reason.
Thus, these challenges are a requirement and should be a priority of all political parties and to include them in their manifestos.
Responding to a question, he explained that though Pakistan’s share in the global emissions of greenhouse gasses was minimal, the country was among the top countries vulnerable to climate changes.
Asked about food insecurity, he said that agriculture would bear direct impacts of climate change and would have a huge impact on Pakistan, being an agrarian country.
Other members of the committee are Muqtada Mansoor, Tauseef Alam, Mahmoud Alam Khalid, all three journalists, and Dr Waqar Ahmed of Karachi University’s Institute of Environmental Studies.