Introduction
Pakistan failed to counter the effects of climate change, In August this year, Pakistan was inundated with its worst flood in living memory. The rains have seized however a second crisis is looming diseases, starvation, and homelessness. Pakistan does have a direct relationship with the warming climate. Damages from the floods have cost the country about 40 billion US dollars. In September 2022 there were half a million people crowded into campus across the country.
Pakistan failed
According to a study by the World Weather attribution, Pakistan’s recurrent episodes of severe flooding in recent times are likely a consequence of climate change as temperatures rise hot air holds more moisture leading to heavier rains during the monsoon season and this is amplified by the country`s precarious geographical location. International organizations are trying to help such as the 160-million-dollar emergency plan launched by the United Nations to deliver Aid to Pakistan`s most vulnerable however UN raised its Aid appeal from 160 million dollars to 800 million dollars looking to word the humanitarian crisis. It was the South Asian country`s worst flood in living memory.
Since 2010 when the last massive flood occurred heavier monsoon rains attributed to warming climate have wreaked have on the country and what happened in Pakistan could be a warning for the world as the ripples of climate change reach countries everywhere
Sherry Rehman ministry for Climate Change said “We have to realize that there is no default setting to nature things will not go back to normal after a summer has passed or a scorching summer like this one has passed it’s not just a problem of national but international climate governance and denialism about its actual ferocity and scale of what climate change can do to the human race to populations”.
Pakistan’s state ban has stated it needs at least 30 billion US dollars to tackle the crisis. The World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank have pledged around 3 billion dollars in total. Floods have destroyed at least 4 million Acres of croplands Nationwide. At a time when global wheat shortage persists due to the war in Ukraine.
Economic crisis
The loan was needed after devastating floods hit Pakistan this year, Pakistan`s economy is in dire Straits. The increase in inflation and unemployment is the result of the economic crisis in Pakistan. The international debt is mounting. Similarly, Pakistan is dreading the 5th of December the government needs to pay back a one billion loan. Pakistan’s total debt and liabilities rose by 24 percent in the first fiscal quarter and the current exchange rates are over worst at 278 BN.
Economic crises are rising due to IMF Loan and the devaluation of the Pakistani rupee and the exchange rate is about 224 Pakistani rupee. The State Bank of Pakistan’s reserves on November 18 was 7.83 BN and Pakistan`s total liquid foreign reserves in November were about 18.65 BN. The foreign exchange reserves of Pakistan stood at 7.9 billion USD. This amount would barely cover imports for one month in Pakistan.
Pakistan will also become even more beholden to China. Beijing has many reasons not to allow a Pakistan economic collapse, but its willingness to throw more funding into a “black hole” or to forgive existing loans may be limited. Whatever Beijing may agree on debt renegotiation (such as its recent rollover of a US$1 billion loan) will likely require significant concessions from Islamabad. This may involve granting China additional access rights to Gwadar port and airfield and other military facilities in Pakistan, including in wartime contingencies. This will firmly establish China’s military presence in the western Indian Ocean.
Russia could also increase its presence. It has been building a defense relationship with Pakistan, including joint training, exercises, intelligence cooperation, and the supply of advanced helicopters. Moscow is looking to ramp up its presence in the region, including a naval base in Sudan and bases elsewhere in Africa. Access to Pakistan facilities is not an impossible scenario.
A poor and unstable Pakistan is in no one’s interest. UN projections estimate Pakistan’s population at some 330 million by 2050. Perhaps Pakistan’s problems will remain contained within its borders, but that seems unlikely based on history.
