Floods recently ravaged Pakistan and plunged around one-third of its land mass into water, destroyed crops and brought a country of 225 million individuals nearer to a food insecurity crisis (World close to ‘irreversible’ climate breakdown, warn major studies, 27 October). Pakistan, a country that contributes less than 1% of global carbon dioxide emissions, is facing an unprecedented climate change disaster that has caused humongous damage to its already flailing economy. Despite being a poor country, it has always been vociferous about climate change and global warming, urging leaders of richer countries to act before it’s too late.
Now we are looking towards the developed world to play its role as it is the one responsible for our agony (G20 countries emit 80% of global CO2 emissions, with China the largest contributor). The “third pole” is melting rapidly and could lose a significant part of its ice sheet by 2100, even if the rise in temperature is reduced to 1.5C, jeopardising the lives of 2 billion people living in south Asia.
