RAWALPINDI: The academic council of the Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi (PMAS-AAUR) approved the establishment of a Climate Change Department under the Institute of Geo-Information and Earth Observation on Monday.

The varsity’s vice chancellor, Prof Dr Rai Niaz Ahmed who was chairing the meeting of the council said there is a lack of scientific research into climate change in Pakistan and that the new department will help in addressing the issues of the country’s agricultural sector, which is facing problems due to climate change and extreme weather events.

He stressed on the need for raising awareness about climate change among decision makers, the younger generation, farmers and the general public.

He suggested the initiation of climate smart agricultural practices in order to achieve sustainable national food security and environmental sustainability.

The new department will offer undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes in climate change with a research focus on global warming, locating water stress areas, analysing carbon sequestration by plant biomass, climate modelling, developing regional validated gridded data for Pakistan, drought monitoring, understanding and monitoring extreme weather events and implementing international policies for mitigating climate change in Pakistan.

The department will provide a broad foundation of science -based skills, particularly in areas relating to climate protection and management. It will coordinate between various faculties and institutes in the university regarding research for better understanding climate change, its impacts and adaptation.

The department will also focus on climate change quantification in terms of agriculture production, precipitation, anomalies and the affects of temperature change on food security.

The decision was taken during the 55th meeting of the academic council which was chaired by the varsity’s vice chancellor and attended by faculty members, teaching heads, librarian, registrar, deans of faculties, directors of institutes and controller examination.

Published in Dawn, August 30th, 2016