Climate change conferences in Pakistan are usually organised by NGOs, both local and international, and most of them take place in Islamabad where one runs into the usual suspects — government officials from the Climate Change Division, experts from local think tanks and heads of various environmental NGOs. Often what happens is that the panellists (climate experts from India, Germany, etc) end up preaching to the converted — people who already know that Pakistan is acutely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. These impacts include erratic monsoon rains, rising temperatures leading to reduced agricultural output and extreme weather events like floods and coastal storms. While the media has been covering these conferences and workshops, the role of the academia has been somewhat limited; all that is due to change with the dedicated involvement of the soon-to-be launched Habib University.

Describing itself as a “unique liberal arts and sciences university”, the university is being established in Karachi under the patronage of the House of Habib. It is heartening to learn of philanthropic minded individuals in Pakistan who want to give back to the country and invest in its education. They give us hope amidst so much despair and counter the image of Pakistan as a “failed state”. The university will open its doors to students in the fall of 2014.

In recognition of the fact that “studying climate change is an important priority for our times,” Habib University’s Dean of Science and Engineering, Dr Shoaib Zaidi, gathered climate experts last week by organising a “Climate Change Conference” in Karachi that was open to young students. Hundreds showed up at a local hotel to listen to what eminent speakers like Dr Bruce McCarl, a Nobel Peace Prize participant (through the award presented to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2007) had to say.

It is a relief to see academic institutions in Pakistan start paying attention to what has been described as one of the biggest challenges of the 21st century. The world today faces converging crises — not just climate change, but the loss of species, shortages of water and food, population growth, poverty, etc. The point to remember about climate change is that it will worsen all the rest of the problems and make them harder to solve.

According to Dr Bruce McCarl, the earth has already warmed one degree since the industrial revolution and scientists predict that it will warm yet one more degree in the next 30 years, thanks to increased greenhouse gas emissions caused by our dependence on fossil fuels that are trapping radiation. Some scientists predict a four-degree rise by the end of the century. Already, there has been an increase in the frequency of drought from 10pc to 30pc globally, while disasters are also increasing with greater intensity. “We also expect more rain; but how will it be distributed? There will be less in sub-tropic areas like Texas and Pakistan.” There will also be a decline in snowpack and permafrost, which might mean that there will be less water available in Pakistan’s rivers in the long run. There is also a probability of greater flooding and the projection for sea level rise is one metre by the end of this century which would spell trouble for low lying coastal cities like Karachi.

Dr McCarl’s own optimistic assessment, however, is that all these changes are “not expected to cause a global economic disaster in food production; it will cause regional issues”. He notes that in the US, some warmer areas in the south will see a drop in agricultural output while cooler areas in the north will see an increase in food production. “Adjusting and planning is needed … the US is already doing it.” As for Pakistan which has steep mountains to its north and vast agricultural plains in the south, it will have to “develop varieties that can be grown with less water; even saline water” and crops that can tolerate heat to a certain extent. Pakistan’s first priority is adaptation; it needs to adapt to warmer temperatures by developing better crop and livestock varieties.

He ended his insightful keynote address by stating that to truly address the global problem of climate change, rich countries like the US need to learn how to drop their emissions to the level of today’s lowest emitters (of which Pakistan is one), while poor countries like Pakistan need to learn how to grow and develop without increasing emissions. This is a huge challenge; and for all of us to embark on a low carbon pathway will require a mix of different strategies, spanning across various disciplines and fields. The solutions to this immense global problem will have to be found at the local level and will require young leaders who, as Dr Shoaib Zaidi pointed out, have “the skills, knowledge and abilities to tackle the multiple dimensions of a complicated and intertwined issue like climate change”.