Déjà vu

Using serial remote sensing data for the period 1985-2024, Dr Ammad Qazi, a climate data scientist at the Institute for Global Health and Development, Aga Khan University, shows that Pakistan lost over 4,000 square km of forest land and range land to human settlement, accelerating the effects of climate change, especially flooding. The sad reality is that rampant population growth in Pakistan over the last 70 years has put inevitable pressures on the environment, worsening the impact of climate change. In low lying areas of the country, especially in southern Punjab and Sindh, building structures and encroachments on flood plains and in the path of storm drains has created a ticking time bomb of human vulnerability. These factors underscore the importance of mitigation and resilience building against climate change, which though a corner stone of national policy, are still exceptions rather than the rule.