KARACHI, Feb 18: Speakers at a seminar on Wednesday said that while developing countries are the least responsible for global climate change, they will likely have to bear the potentially devastating effects of the change in the years to come if they fail to revisit their development strategies.

They noted that a scarcity of resources in developing countries like Pakistan puts them at greater risk of suffering the potentially devastating effects of climate change, including the issues of ecosystem degradation, socio-economic shortfalls, food and energy crises, endemic diseases, mass migration and security and natural disasters.

The moot was organised by the Sindh government’s information department in order to bring climate change concerns to the attention of media corporations, editors and journalists. The seminar was organised in collaboration with Leadership for Environment and Development (LEAD) Pakistan, a non-profit organisation which has also designed a five-year action programme to help tackle the looming challenges of climate change.

The keynote speaker at the summit was Dr Adil Najam, a Pakistani associated with Boston University, US, as a professor, and one of the lead authors for the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) team that shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore in 2007.

Dr Najam said that the matter of the environment was ultimately about the survival of humanity on this planet, and therefore no time should be wasted in planning sustainable development projects which do not contribute to global climate change.

He said that the phenomenon is not just about the weather, but is a development issue related to the people, as well. He said it was important to impress upon developed countries at international forums that it was their emissions of greenhouse gases (mostly carbon dioxide) that were causing an increase in global temperatures.

According to the IPCC 2007, climate change could result in a drop in crop yield, water scarcity, an increased incidence of infectious diseases and increased flooding. Each of these would lead to losses in a country’s gross domestic product.

The inability to adapt quickly to changes will mean that developing and undeveloped countries will be hit the hardest, even though they are least responsible for the build up of greenhouse gases.

‘A unique global issue’

Dr Najam asserted that climate change is a unique global issue which affects each and every person and country on Earth, regardless of their location, status or wealth. He therefore referred to the expected trends in the climate, development and security areas, while assuming the world was one country. He said that if the Earth were seen from a different planet, it would appear to be a poor, third world country which was divided, insecure and poorly governed.

He said that today, climate change is considered to be a development problem, and not an environmental or efficiency problem.

He said he feared that climate change would affect the poorest countries first, and therefore he suggested that the governments in these countries should find opportunities to minimise the threats and should determine the role of government institutions in climate governance.

Responding to questions from participants, the Pakistani scientist said that there was a great need to accelerate the understanding, adaptation to and mitigation of climate change in Pakistan. He said that the larger cities will likely face adverse consequences when people from coastal and desert areas begin to migrate to urban centres because of climate change.

The authorities in the government and all stakeholders should prepare a better policy of coherence between all sectors right now, he remarked.

The provincial Minister for Information, Shazia Marri, said that there was a great need to increase awareness about the environment and particularly about climate change. She said the increased awareness will ultimately cause stakeholders to adopt new measures. She added that the media could make a big difference in this regard and could contribute towards overcoming the challenges of global climate change.