{"id":57020,"date":"2024-02-06T17:30:09","date_gmt":"2024-02-06T17:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/climate-change-an-afterthought-in-election-the-express-tribune\/"},"modified":"2024-02-06T17:30:09","modified_gmt":"2024-02-06T17:30:09","slug":"climate-change-an-afterthought-in-election-the-express-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/climate-change-an-afterthought-in-election-the-express-tribune\/","title":{"rendered":"Climate change an afterthought in election | The Express Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"
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As waves from the Arabian Sea crash into the shores of Karachi, election candidate Ahmad Shabbar tells voters a list of growing but often ignored climate threats.<\/p>\n

Pakistan was ravaged by monsoon floods two years ago that left a third of the country submerged, turning climate change into an international rallying cry for the government<\/p>\n

But surging inflation and a massive political crackdown on the opposition have pushed the issue down the priority list ahead of polls on Thursday.<\/p>\n

“One of the main reasons for me to contest right now is to highlight that climate change is not a priority for these political parties,” said scientist and engineer Shabbar, an independent with little chance of being elected.<\/p>\n

Despite the climate conversation gaining mainstream traction after the floods — and billions pledged by donors for the recovery effort — he says the government is doing little to connect with communities most vulnerable to extreme weather events.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

“Before the funds started flowing in, (politicians) weren’t really interested in having this conversation,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It used to be that all the natural disasters are because of God. Now all of a sudden they’re all because of climate change.”<\/p>\n

A small crowd gathered to hear Shabbar explain other environmental issues, such as water scarcity and poor air quality in Karachi, Pakistan’s economic capital with a population of more than 20 million.<\/p>\n

Read more:\u00a0\u2018Climate change poses threat to economy\u2019<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

“Climate change is evident around the world,” attendee Amna Jamil, 60, said.<\/p>\n

“I know what impact non-seasonal rains can have and how they can affect crops. So many seasonal fruits and crops are being destroyed by climate change.”<\/p>\n

The floods \u2013- which scientists said were linked to climate change — hit hardest in Sindh province, where the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) was running the provincial government.<\/p>\n

PPP senator and former climate minister Sherry Rehman insists her party has “put green development and climate resilience at the centre of (its) economic agenda” while others pay “lip service”.<\/p>\n

They say they have started with the construction of climate-resilient housing in vulnerable areas and would prioritise a developing early-warning infrastructure and a transition to clean energy.<\/p>\n

“Pakistan is going through a climate polycrisis, so pretty much everything has to be addressed with speed and action,” Rehman told AFP<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Apart from flooding, Pakistan has been scorched by deadly heatwaves, and its smog levels rank among the worst in the world.<\/p>\n

Professor Nausheen H. Anwar, who works on urban planning and climate hazards, said “the level of intervention required to make things work at a major scale is not happening”.<\/p>\n

The impact of climate change has collided with Pakistan’s lack of infrastructure and poor governance to produce an ecological catastrophe, she explained.<\/p>\n

The UN children’s agency UNICEF estimates that around 70 per cent of households drink contaminated water and more than 50,000 children under five die from sanitation-related diseases annually, an issue that is being magnified by extreme heat and drought.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

“It’s a question of time and the worry is that maybe we are now out of time,” Anwar told AFP<\/em>.<\/p>\n

In Islamabad, Hamza Haroon hosts a corner meeting to rally for youth-led governance in the capital, bordered by a national park, where he says climate-change awareness is growing.<\/p>\n

“Because of the smog, people stopped seeing the Margalla hills, so then they started asking questions, ‘what’s going on’?” said the 33-year-old, who previously worked as a government advisor on science and technology.<\/p>\n

Also read:\u00a0Water, sewerage plans to \u2018mitigate climate change\u2019<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

“We pretend that nothing has happened, we’re still doing the policy of planting trees,” he added, referring to a campaign launched by former prime minister Imran Khan.<\/p>\n

Climate change appears in the manifesto of all three major political parties and Khan, now in jail and the target of a massive crackdown, touted his billion tree initiative as he rose to power in 2018.<\/p>\n

Haroon described the policy as flawed while Shabbar termed it “greenwashing”, saying Khan’s party was simultaneously pursuing development projects that would upend vital ecosystems such as mangroves.<\/p>\n

Voter Hasnain Shah said climate does not appear on the radar of the major parties.<\/p>\n

Haroon believes climate politics can address Pakistan’s economic woes, with clean transport solutions reducing fuel imports and protecting crop yields, subduing surging food prices.<\/p>\n

“We are facing the wrath of climate that all these global north countries will face in the next few years, they need to come see what’s coming.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As waves from the Arabian Sea crash into the shores of Karachi, election candidate Ahmad Shabbar tells voters a list of growing but often ignored climate threats. Pakistan was ravaged by monsoon floods two years ago that left a third of the country submerged, turning climate change into an international rallying cry for the government […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":57021,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.tribune.com.pk\/media\/images\/AFP5753904232415034446797881187078635769386---11707236582-0\/AFP5753904232415034446797881187078635769386---11707236582-0.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57020","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57020"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57020\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}