0
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) and Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) will hold an international workshop among SAARC member countries on the theme “Science and Technology Issues on Climate Change” on March 21-22.
The workshop will be held at Comstech Secretariat to discuss climate change issues and its impacts on human life as due to increase of global warming, species and their habitats are decreasing while chances for ecosystems to adapt naturally are also diminishing.
The environment experts said that climate change is one of the greatest threats faced by the planet and the recent years show increasing temperatures in various regions and increasing extremities in weather patterns.
The workshop will explore climate change impacts on fast growing science and technology fields and will recommend steps to redress or minimize these effects so that Science and Technology could better serve the humanity in general and people of the area in particular.
The experts from SAARC countries will deliberate upon and share their experiences through their research papers.
In the conference, weather related issues including rise in temperatures, more rain in monsoon and in coastal areas, more unpredictable weather patterns, increasing sea levels, increase in evaporation, less rain in dry season and in dry areas, more frequent cyclones and storm surges.
The water related issues including drought, flooding, ground water stress, melting mountain/glacier snow as well as agricultural related issues; impacts of climate change on crop yield; increased weed and pest challenges; decline in yields and production; saline intrusion and the uses of water in agriculture will also be discussed.
The energy related issues including climate information that supports energy management and seasonal forecasting, infrastructure, energy planning such as biomass and renewable and ecosystems and air quality including wild fire, invasive species, managed ecosystems (e.g., agriculture, forestry), carbon sequestration and air quality related issues will also be part of the deliberations.
Scientists through this workshop would develop regional assessments of climate change that are essential to the local policymakers who will have to make the critical decisions about how to respond.
The workshop will serve as a forum to address progress and future plans for climate research on three decision-support approach; prepare scientific synthesis and assessments on key climate change issues, develop and illustrate adaptive management and planning capabilities and evaluate information and methods to support climate change.
