IPCC Report 2018 Reveals Irreversible Climate Change Patterns: Malik Amin Aslam

Adviser to the Prime Minister on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam here on Friday said the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report 2018 reveals irreversible climate change patterns and the planet earth has reached a threshold in the human history.

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Nov, 2018 ) :Adviser to the Prime Minister on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam here on Friday said the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report 2018 reveals irreversible climate change patterns and the planet earth has reached a threshold in the human history.

He said the report gives account of a time frame of twelve years for extreme mitigation and adaptation measures which is an uphill task for the stakeholders to respond in time to the environmental challenges grown over the past few years.

Speaking at the occasion of a national consultative deliberation on 'Pakistan at Global Warming of 1.5 to 2 'C: Capturing Opportunities and Managing Challenges' organized by Leadership for Environment and Development (LEAD), Pakistan and the Ministry of Climate Change, the Advisor appreciated the aptness of the title for discussion and said the report primarily mulls over the challenges and possible opportunities to cope with the global environmental degradation issue as the world would plunge into a phase of climatic occurrences that would be irretrievable.

Referring to the stern U.S and Brazilian attitude towards international environment conservation, he mentioned, "I come across to different articles including one quoting the American President refuting a report of his government and the second states Brazilian minister calling climate change mitigation initiatives a conspiracy of culturally harmed Marxists. The 24th Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP-24) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is going to be very much interesting and exigent where we would have expressive debates to convince the world." Malik Amin Aslam lamented the fact, "In such prevailing global scenario the climate politics has lost scientific reality which is a setback to the climate change reduction and management endeavors." "Global warming at 2'C will expose about 37 percent of world population to severe heat waves and 411 million more urban populations to severe drought and 32 to 80 million people to flooding from sea level rise in 2100," he remarked.

The incumbent government has aptly responded to the environment issue and is going to reset the course of action and implementation of policies namely pertaining to forestry as it has scaled up billion Tree Tsunami to 10 Billion which is a success story in itself. The next initiative is taken to push forward with renewable energy projects to revolutionize the prevailing energy mix, he added.

The sitting government within its first 100 days, had managed to take all provinces on board for cooperation and coordination in implementing climate change management and mitigation projects, adding all provinces have submitted their project cycles (PC1s) and set targets for Billion Tree plantation project, he said.

The provinces' response despite the opposition parties' government in some provinces was surprising as all of them cordially rejoined the Federal government in its Clean and Green Pakistan and other Eco-friendly projects, he maintained.

The Adviser to the Prime Minister on Civil Service Reforms and Austerity, Dr Ishrat Hussain said, "There are proper policies, useful interventions but no plans exist in the country ensuring implementation however, it's high time to develop a contingency plant.

The failure of implementation occurred due to poor management and institutional failure in the past which the present government focuses in the earnest to resolve." Dr Ishrat Hussain said that Pakistan must look to domestic and global channels to garner support for strengthening their preparedness and response to global changes that will have local impacts. He said that transitions in systems can be enabled by an increase of adaptation and mitigation investments, policy instruments, the acceleration of technological innovation and behaviour changes. "Strengthening the capacities for climate action of national and sub-national authorities, civil society, the private sector and local communities can support the implementation of actions implied by limiting global warming to 1.5� C," he added.

The climate change experts during various discussions, have warned that global warming of 1.5'C and more so of 2'C will not only worsen climate change impacts but have direct implications on Pakistan's economy, food security, water supply, livelihoods, social well-being and ecosystem health.

They also stressed the need to undertake planning on how to cope with surging risks associated with climate change and called it more necessary than ever. With the global climate event, Conference of the Parties (COP-24) scheduled next month in Poland, the consultation came at a critical juncture and discussed a pressing issue also mobilized stakeholders from different sectors on a common agenda of tackling climate change.

Senator and Member Senate Committee on Climate Change, Mushahid Hussain Syed said that Pakistan was already witnessing climate change impacts at current levels of global warming with increasing intensity and frequency of extreme weather events, surging stress on water resources, increasing glaciers, swelling health risks and unalterable impacts on land and water ecosystems.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) LEAD-Pakistan Ali Tauqeer Sheikh said, "Increase in frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, surging stress on water resources, recessing cryosphere and glaciers, swelling health risks, rising climate change induced migration and often irreversible impacts on land and water ecosystems." He warned that these impacts will exacerbate at global warming of 1.5' C with even worse consequences at 2'C reveals the IPCC Special Report, and we are not on track for either.

He said that in order to control climate change at the micro level there's a need for development of local level adaptation strategies, reducing undesirable human interventions in forests, on glaciers, wetlands and pastures are crucial in this regard.

Ambassador of Poland, Piotr A. Opalinski said that upcoming summit COP-24 on climate change will provide an excellent opportunity to strengthen relations between Pakistan and Poland, especially in the field of new pro-environmental technologies. He emphasized the importance of developing clean coal technologies and the strategic role of natural gas in transition to a low-carbon economy.