“Climate change is hitting home now and Pakistan is among the most vulnerable countries because of this change,” Malik Amin Aslam, Adviser to Prime Minister of Pakistan on Climate Change, said.
“We are on number 135 out of 156 countries that have created this issue but we are in the top 10 countries which are the most affected. And because of this, we are number four in countries with extreme effects,” he added.
Malik said agriculture was also exposed to changing weather patterns, as Pakistan was one of the top three hottest countries on the planet.
In an interview to TNS, he said big cities had lost their green parts because of haphazard development.
The adviser to the prime minister is not alone in issuing the warning, as a recent research published by the Science Advances says the images from Cold War spy satellites have revealed the dramatic extent of ice loss in the Himalayan glaciers.
Scientists compared photographs taken by a US reconnaissance programme with recent spacecraft observations and found that melting in the region has doubled over the last 40 years.
The study shows that since 2000, glaciers heights have been shrinking by an average of 0.5m per year.
The researchers say that climate change is the main cause. "From this study, we really see the clearest picture yet of how Himalayan glaciers have changed," Joshua Maurer, from Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in New York, told BBC News.
Similarly, Global Climate Risk Index 2019 at the annual climate summit in the Polish city of Katowice showed that the countries in South Asia are among the most vulnerable globally to the impacts of climate change.
India has been ranked the 14th most vulnerable nation in a list topped by Puerto Rico, which was ravaged by Hurricane Maria in 2017. Sri Lanka was in second place after Puerto Rico. Nepal was ranked the world’s fourth most vulnerable country in this latest edition of the index, while Bangladesh was ranked ninth.
It said, “Countries like Haiti, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Pakistan are repeatedly hit by extreme weather events and have no time to fully recover. It is important to support these countries in climate change adaptation, but that is not sufficient. They need predictable and reliable financial support for dealing with climate-induced loss and damage as well.”
Earlier in 2014, the Asian Development Bank in a report had warned that climate change impacts would slash up to 9 per cent off the South Asian economy every year by the end of this century, and the human and financial toll could be even higher if the damage from floods, droughts and other extreme weather events is included.
“We are on number 135 out of 156 countries that have created this issue but we are in the top 10 countries which are the most affected. And because of this, we are number four in countries with extreme effects,” he added.
Malik said agriculture was also exposed to changing weather patterns, as Pakistan was one of the top three hottest countries on the planet.
In an interview to TNS, he said big cities had lost their green parts because of haphazard development.
The adviser to the prime minister is not alone in issuing the warning, as a recent research published by the Science Advances says the images from Cold War spy satellites have revealed the dramatic extent of ice loss in the Himalayan glaciers.
Scientists compared photographs taken by a US reconnaissance programme with recent spacecraft observations and found that melting in the region has doubled over the last 40 years.
The study shows that since 2000, glaciers heights have been shrinking by an average of 0.5m per year.
The researchers say that climate change is the main cause. "From this study, we really see the clearest picture yet of how Himalayan glaciers have changed," Joshua Maurer, from Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in New York, told BBC News.
Similarly, Global Climate Risk Index 2019 at the annual climate summit in the Polish city of Katowice showed that the countries in South Asia are among the most vulnerable globally to the impacts of climate change.
India has been ranked the 14th most vulnerable nation in a list topped by Puerto Rico, which was ravaged by Hurricane Maria in 2017. Sri Lanka was in second place after Puerto Rico. Nepal was ranked the world’s fourth most vulnerable country in this latest edition of the index, while Bangladesh was ranked ninth.
It said, “Countries like Haiti, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Pakistan are repeatedly hit by extreme weather events and have no time to fully recover. It is important to support these countries in climate change adaptation, but that is not sufficient. They need predictable and reliable financial support for dealing with climate-induced loss and damage as well.”
Earlier in 2014, the Asian Development Bank in a report had warned that climate change impacts would slash up to 9 per cent off the South Asian economy every year by the end of this century, and the human and financial toll could be even higher if the damage from floods, droughts and other extreme weather events is included.