Earlier this year, the government of Pakistan had taken an important decision to give priority to climate change issues by reinstating the Ministry of Climate Change and appointing a federal minister.

When the PML-N government first came to power in June 2013, the budget of the Ministry of Climate Change was cut and the ministry reduced to a division. Under Mushaidullah’s helm, the ministry was trying to operationalise the National Climate Change Policy, which had been approved by the federal cabinet in 2013, but which had remained on the shelf for almost two years.

While adaptation remains Pakistan’s priority as one of the most vulnerable countries in the world, the country is also trying to address mitigation as well. With the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2015 in Paris coming around in December, the country is also working on its Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs), which are supposed to be ready by September this year. The INDCs are essentially the building blocks for the 21st Conference of the Parties in Paris (COP21) where targets (to curb carbon emissions causing global warming) will hopefully be solidified. Each country is supposed to submit their INDCs ahead of the Paris conference.

Mushaidullah’s resignation is a big setback for the Ministry of Climate Change

Mushaidullah had, in fact, been invited to Paris next month on Sept 6, to participate in a two-day long Ministerial Conference hosted by the French government. The French ambassador in Islamabad had conveyed the formal invitation of the French Minister for Foreign Affairs, Laurent Fabius, to Mushaidullah for participation in the Conference. The Ministerial meeting is to review preparations for the two-weeks long COP21 in December that should deliver a global climate agreement to tackle global warming. The French embassy is doing its best to raise awareness about the Paris conference in Pakistan by supporting workshops and conferences on climate change. They are currently working to organise a two-day forum in Lahore in the first week of October where students, civil society members and government officials will be invited to the Alhamra to discuss climate change solutions and COP21.

With Mushaidullah’s untimely departure, caused by his unfortunate remarks to the BBC about the factions in the army’s alleged involvement in the “dharna” staged by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf a year ago, the country’s preparations for the Paris conference have been somewhat derailed. His serious error of judgement has not only cost him his cabinet seat but also jeopardised all the hard work being put in by the ministry and environmental NGOs in recent months to ready themselves for the Paris climate summit. Paris is an important conference because current commitments on curbing greenhouse gas emissions run out in 2020, so the governments are expected to produce an agreement in Paris on what happens for the decade after that and beyond.

Scientists have already warned us that if greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, we will pass the threshold of 2°C warming above pre-industrial levels, beyond which climate change becomes catastrophic and irreversible. According to current emissions trajectories we are heading for a rise of about 5°C. Even small changes in temperature can mean big differences for the earth; we have already warmed 0.85°C and look at what is happening around the world: wildfires, floods, droughts, hurricanes, typhoons and heat-waves.

As a country that is already facing extensive flooding and other extreme weather events, Pakistan’s participation in the ministerial meeting in September is important. It would provide an international platform in which to make global leaders acquainted with the climate change-induced losses and damages being faced by Pakistan.

According to national climate change expert Dr Qamar-uz-Zaman Chaudhry, “this is not a good development for the climate change process in the country. Mushaidullah was providing much needed leadership in this area.”

According to some sources, MNA Maryam Aurangzeb, who once used to work for the World Wide Fund for Nature-Pakistan and is well acquainted with Pakistan’s environmental problems, is expected to replace Mushaidullah Khan as the federal Minister for Climate Change. Others say Mushaidullah’s daughter, who is also a MNA on the reserve seats for women, might be appointed minister in his place. If this is indeed true, it should happen sooner rather than later so that either one (or possibly someone else) can attend the Ministerial Conference in September and keep Pakistan on track to meet its international commitments. The significance of the Paris conference cannot be overstated.

The fossil fuel era has transformed the world by giving us cheap energy since the industrial revolution, but the carbon dioxide it has been producing along with other greenhouse gases now threatens our civilisation. The countries of the world need to urgently make a transformation to low carbon pathways in which they can sustain their economic growth. Paris is where all the countries of the world will come together to make an agreement. The global negotiations on climate change have been carrying on for more than 20 years and scientists now say that we are running out of time to save our civilisation.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, August 23rd, 2015

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