In Lahore, as temperatures rise to 43oC in the middle of May, driving, let alone walking or cycling, on the treeless ‘signal-free’ corridor on Jail Road has become intolerable. The asphalt and concrete is burning hot, absorbing the relentless heat of the summer and releasing it like a furnace. No wonder environmentalists from Lahore went all the way to the Supreme Court in vain to stop the slaughter of old trees on Jail Road in the name of senseless ‘development’.

How can our ruling political leaders not be aware of climate change, or in more simple terms, global warming? Do they not realise that temperatures are steadily rising all over the world, and that 2016 is on track to becoming the hottest year on record, and probably by the largest margin ever?

According to Nasa figures, last month was the hottest April on record globally — and the seventh month in a row to have broken global temperature records. Scientists are now talking about a climate emergency because of the scale at which records are being broken.

The current blast of hot air around the globe is being spurred on by a massive El Nino weather effect, which is a release of warm water across the Pacific Ocean. Dr Fahad Saeed, who leads the Environment and Climate Change Unit at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute, had told Dawn back in March that due to El Nino and the weather changes it brings, freak heat waves will become more frequent in Pakistan.


Despite the fact that Pakistan is a low carbon-emitting country, it is among the most vulnerable countries to experience the effects of climate change


Thanks to all the roads being built in urban centres like Lahore at the expense of trees and greenery, Pakistan is now more susceptible to the ‘urban heat island’ effect. This phenomenon refers to urban areas becoming significantly warmer than their surrounding rural areas due to all the concretisation.

According to a policy brief recently published by Dr Saeed, “Considering a high population density in the Punjab, this alarming increase in heatwaves will pose a serious concern not only for the far future but also for the near future [...]”.

A heatwave is a prolonged period of excessively hot weather, which may be accompanied by high humidity. Heatwaves are the most lethal type of weather phenomenon overall. A recent study by the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction reported that of the 164,000 who perished when the thermometer dropped or climbed to catastrophic levels in the last 20 years, 148,000 died during heatwaves (most of the deaths occurred in Europe where aging populations could not bear the heat).

India and Pakistan are now also beginning to see increasing deaths due to heatwaves. During the Karachi heatwave of 2015, the number of fatalities directly attributed to heat in the megacity was about 1,257.

The environmental NGO, Leadership for Environment and Development (LEAD) Pakistan along with the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN) have recently published reports addressing this issue titled Karachi 2015 Heat Wave: A Visual Guide and Heat Wave Management Protocols for Karachi City: Recommendations from Stakeholders.

These include precautionary measures to deal with heatwaves. They define a heatwave (according to the World Meteorological Organisation) as when the daily maximum temperature on more than five consecutive days exceeds the average maximum temperature by 5oC.

According to Pakistan’s Meteorology Department, very hot and dry weather has been predicted during May across the country. They state on their website that the “low elevation agricultural plains of Punjab, KP, Balochistan and Sindh will be at the centre of [the heatwave] where day temperatures will cross over 45°C and central parts will touch a critical level of 50°C. Temperatures in mountainous areas of GB [Gilgit Baltistan] and AJK [Azad Jammu Kashmir] will also rise by 4-5°C above average, resulting in rapid melting of snow and glaciers.”

They advise the public to take care of the dangers of “heat stroke and dehydration”. So what are the health warning signs of heat stroke? The guide provided by LEAD-Pakistan and CDKN lists the following: difficulty in breathing, excessive sweating and panting, increased heart and respiratory rate, vomiting, dizziness, light headedness and the skin becoming hot. The guide also gives tips on how to prevent heat stroke (see image on the right).

The report itself advocates a detailed “heatwave management plan” for the city in which there are forecast and alert systems. This requires close coordination between meteorological and city departments.

The report also points out that public awareness of extreme heat events “is often the difference between a hot day and a tragedy”. Since vulnerable groups, like the homeless, labourers and slum dwellers, have low literacy levels, better dissemination of information is needed through a mix of communication media. The report details immediate actions the city government can take to ensure there are fewer deaths during heatwaves.

Pakistan is a low carbon-emitting country (although our carbon emissions will go up as we install more coal-fired power plants) so we have not contributed to global warming, but we are one of the most vulnerable countries in the world when it comes to the impacts of climate change. Our leaders need to do more to make us more resilient.

Instead, due to the short-sightedness of those leaders, who prefer heat-trapping concrete over cool shade-giving trees, we can expect to see a deeper impact from heatwaves in the near future in our urban centres.

In last year’s Karachi heatwave, more than 1,200 died — yet various high rises continue to be constructed along the seafront and trees are being mercilessly cut down, due to which Karachi has become a concrete jungle.

In Lahore, where even more trees are being cut down to widen roads and build flyovers, underpasses and trains, the city is also becoming a concrete nightmare. And while the urban heat island effect is borne by ordinary citizens, the ruling elite whiz by in their air-conditioned luxury cars and head to their generator-fuelled homes.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, May 29th, 2016

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