Environmental ‘strategic depth’

by Ardeshir Cowasjee

Those who can comprehend the title, read on. A news item, ‘Pakistan most vulnerable to climate change’ (Dawn, Feb 5) probably escaped the attention of many. It told us: “It was bad news all around when environment experts on Thursday reiterated before the parliamentarians that Pakistan was the most vulnerable country to the impacts of climate change.

“In the first meeting of the Climate Change Sub-Committee of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Environment, the experts warned that melting rate of glaciers would increase in Pakistan’s mountain ranges such as Karakoram and Hindukush, resulting in flash floods. ... ‘Crops will be affected resulting in lower productivity and production. Outbreak and spread of diseases, shifting in cropping patterns, soil erosion, salinity and water logging, increased trans-boundary movement of pests and disease are some of the serious challenges,’ said a participant.”

We in Pakistan are perhaps just beginning to comprehend that there exist phenomena called ‘climate change’ and ‘environment’. Nothing serious is being done by parliament, the environment ministry, the protection agencies, the industrial associations (who are among the worst polluters), or the urban municipal bodies, despite the World Bank’s 2006 assessment that Pakistan’s environmental degradation is equivalent to six per cent of GDP.

Some indicators of local significance accorded to these critical issues are: (a) the government’s task force on climate change has not met in two years; (b) President Asif Zardari, who led our UN delegation in September 2009, was too busy with personal matters to attend Ban Ki-Moon’s environment summit for 100 heads of countries and instead sent his then advisor on petroleum affairs Dr Asim Hussain; (c) at the Copenhagen Conference on Climate Change in November 2009, almost every national delegation was led by a head of state or government, but again Asim Hussain was sent.

One observation must be repeated: to appreciate the intimate connection between Pakistan’s political/economic woes and climate change, “many of the tensions and conflicts that exist in Pakistan are related to environmental problems generated by ‘islands of prosperity’ in ‘oceans of poverty’.”

As is being increasingly perceived around the world, climate change, brought about by destruction of the environment and use of fossil fuels is no longer merely an economic or environmental issue.

Margaret Beckett, once the UK’s first woman foreign secretary, recently stated: “Anyone wanting to trace the links between what science is telling us about physical impacts and the broader ramifications for our security would do well to read a startling report…. The Military Advisory Board is a group of the most respected retired admirals and generals in the United States.

“…They are about as far as you can get from the old stereotype of a tree-hugging environmentalist. And yet in that report they state, categorically, that projected climate change poses a serious threat to America’s national security. It is, they say ‘a threat multiplier for instability in some of the most volatile regions of the world’. In other words, an unstable climate will make the very kinds of tensions and conflicts that the Security Council deals with, day in day-out, yet more frequent and even more severe.”

In a recent op-ed piece in the Times of India entitled ‘Charting Green Pathways’, Jamshyd Godrej, head of Godrej & Boyce, and chair of the Confederation of Indian Industry’s Climate Change Council had this to say: “No sooner had [the] environment minister … announced in parliament that India would cut its emission intensity by 20-25 per cent by 2020, there was a welter of protests. Would it not imperil the country’s rapid quest for accelerated development by imposing a huge additional burden? Emission intensity is the amount of carbon emitted in producing one unit of GDP.

“Soon after the parliamentary statement … our prime minister together with the leaders from Brazil, South Africa and China, or the BASIC countries, promised to pursue voluntary cuts in carbon emissions irrespective of the outcome in Copenhagen. He and the Indian delegation then worked with their counterparts from BASIC and with US President Barack Obama in framing the Copenhagen Accord.

“While inadequate … the Copenhagen Accord is a necessary and constructive platform that enables the global community to maintain momentum towards a final agreement. And our leaders deserve to be commended for showing admirable foresight and vision by pledging to progressively bring down our carbon emissions and for taking a constructive approach towards securing an international agreement as these actions will also serve India’s own best interests.

“Due to climate change, monsoons are threatened, agriculture productivity is on the wane, extreme weather events are on the rise, the Himalayan glaciers are melting, thereby imperiling our water security, our coastlines are eroding, and our forests and wildlife are endangered. And that’s not all. Climate change endangers our health and the well-being of our children.”

He explained that there are policies that have globally been proven to help win the energy-climate battle, and that India is focusing on energy efficient appliances and building codes; vehicle fuel-efficiency standards; demand-side management in the power sector; increasing supply of renewable energy; sustainable transportation.

It is in India’s national interest to do so, from both development and climate perspectives: “By putting greater political will at central, state and city levels and by promoting better coordination and deploying technical capacity behind these policies now and in the future, we cannot only meet, but possibly also exceed the goal of reducing our emissions intensity by 20-25 per cent that the minister has announced.”

Can we in Pakistan also simplify our lives, provide a better living standard to our poor, and stop trying to build Pakistan by breaking natural and environmental laws? This will help us develop environmental ‘strategic depth’.