27/10/2022
In Pakistan, Hyderabad is likely to be the hottest city by 2100 with the highest average temperature reaching 29.9°C to 32°C followed by Jacobabad, Bahawalnagar, and Bahawalpur cities, warn two UN reports released on Wednesday.
“In South Asia, extreme climatic conditions are threatening food security; thus, agro-based economies, such as those of India and Pakistan, are the most vulnerable to climate change,” says a new report by UN Climate Change (UNFCCC).
“In Pakistan, farmers are experiencing a decline in crop yields and increasing incidence of crop diseases as a result of climate extremes, particularly floods,” the report points out. “Water stress is likely to be more pronounced in Pakistan, and northern parts of India and China”.
The reports note that global efforts to tackle emissions and mitigate climate change were not having the desired impact and the planet earth was getting warmer by at least 2.5 degrees, a level deemed catastrophic by most scientists.
The reports project that by the end of the century, South Asia will have “more intense heatwaves of longer durations and occurring at a higher frequency,” particularly in India and Pakistan.
People living in 330 cities above 300,000 population are already exposed to drought risk because of the heatwaves. Three Asian mega cities Delhi, Karachi and Kolkata are top on the list. “Drought-related economic losses are also high in Dhaka,” the reports add.
Explaining the impact of climate change in a larger context, the reports note that by the mid-21st century, the international transboundary river basins of Amu Darya, Indus, Ganges could face severe water scarcity challenges due to climatic variability and changes acting as stress multipliers. Noting that there has been an increasing reliance on groundwater in South Asia for irrigation, the authors show how India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and China together account for more than 50 per cent of the world’s groundwater withdrawals. Excessive withdrawals, the authors argue, will not only reduce availability of drinking water but will also increase contamination, making the water unsuitable for human consumption.
