KARACHI: Lack of understanding among the people of Thar about the changing rainfall patterns over the past 10 to 15 years has made them further food insecure and there is a need for government measures to help them adapt to climate change, said experts during a seminar held on Saturday at a local hotel.

There was also a call for an immediate approval of Thar policy prepared by a government committee.

The programme titled ‘Thar drought — an assessment of affecting factors and mitigating measures’ was organised by the Hisaar Foundation in collaboration with ActionAid Pakistan.

Giving a presentation on a research project carried out in four districts — Badin, Thatta, Tharparkar and Dadu — of Sindh, principal economist with Social Policy and Development Centre (SPDC) Nadeem Ahmed said that around 1,249 households were surveyed under the project and it was found that villages with agro-pastoral economy were more vulnerable to climate change as compared to those that either had canal and ground freshwater resources or saline underground water.

“Tharparkar has been found to be the most vulnerable followed by fishing villages. This is because the desert area has no economy base. Livelihood opportunities have shrunk with change in rainfall pattern,” he said, adding that ignorance among people about climate change was making the situation worse as they had no tool to fight off its impact.

Referring to the meteorological data, he said that it showed that the average rainfall was more in Tharparkar in four to five years as compared to other areas while there was a flooding situation in Mithi in 2011. The question, he pointed out, was to implement water conservation strategies.

Provision of safe drinking water, he said, was the single most important issue in Thar; majority of Tharis were dependent on groundwater resources that were not fit for human consumption. Water table, he said, had gone down.

During the survey, he told the audience, women were found to have experienced starvation more. “On an average a middle-aged man had experienced starvation seven times while women 15 times in their life. Every 10th household had experienced starvation,” he said.

Danish Mustafa, expert on environmental issues teaching at King’s College, London, who was part of the SPDC research team, said that not everyone was equally vulnerable to drought and a meteorological drought didn’t necessarily result in an agricultural drought.

Due to changes in rainfall patterns, he said, Thar farmers couldn’t grow green vegetables and the perpetual food crisis was badly affecting public health. “Blood samples from 300 Thari women showed their haemoglobin level to around 4. The normal range is 12,” he said.

Dr Sono Khangharani representing the Hisaar Foundation gave an overview of Tharparkar district and said that part of the Greater Indian Desert spread over 200,000km, the region was the 9th most vegetated tropical desert. It had experienced 73 droughts in 114 years. There was a drought every third year and the current drought had entered its third consecutive year.

“What hasn’t changed over the years is people’s misery, though there has been a change in land composition, population, culture, economy, diet pattern, etc,” he said.

According to Dr Khangharani, food assistance programmes launched by the government are all politicised and there is discrimination at public level.

“Thar is the only place in Pakistan, where 80pc people take credit to buy food. Eighty per cent population is food insecure. Child labour increases with severity in drought conditions. Population between 40 and 70 years become a burden on the family during the drought period as they have nothing to do,” he said.

Recommending measures to improve the Thar situation, he said that the government must not delay announcement of drought (so that relief efforts are taken in time) and the companies carrying out development projects there should hire local people.

Published in Dawn, January 11th, 2015

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