Climate Change in Karachi By ALIZAH KHAN Climate change, a phenomenon as bright as a day, has become an important parameter to evaluate environmental resilience and sustainability of a nation. Life on Earth is supported by a complex supporting network of biotic and abiotic systems. Any change in one of the systems can have a direct and indirect impact on other systems, thus disrupting the delicate balance in the complex network of nature to support life. Unfortunately, unregulated anthropogenic activities have caused disturbance in many systems including climate. According to the IPCC, the Earth's surface temperature has risen by 1.0 °C since the mid-19th century, and is projected to rise by 1.10 °C to 6.40 °C by the end of the 21st century. The impacts of the ongoing process of climate change are also interrelated and complicated. Melting of glaciers and sea ice being responsible for floods, the floods being responsible for damaging infrastructure, human life and causing various health problems. Another example of adverse effects of climate change is that the warmer climate provides suitable conditions for vector breeding and ultimately results in vector borne diseases. On one side where climate change impacts include increased rainfall during monsoons, frequent drought spells and wildfires are also some of the scary realities linked with climate change. Even though effects of climate change are evident across the globe, these issues vary geographically. Let's take Karachi for an instance, a coastal city home to more than 20 million people is highly vulnerable to the atrocities of climate change. Some of the most prominent impacts experienced by the city in the last decade include extreme heat waves, increased monsoon rainfalls as well as some exceptionally very cold winters. All these issues are screaming evidence of a long predicted phenomenon of shift in global climate. Additionally, the city's expansion from “Two Swords” to DHA Phase 8-Extension in the last forty years also makes it highly susceptible to the inevitable rise in sea level. Consequently, the transformed coastal landscape of Karachi housing luxurious neighborhoods is expected to be at the mercy of coastal storm surges and resultant property damage. The future looks bleak for Karachi as certain specialists have gone so far as to predict the city's submergence by 2060 should the upward trend of rising sea levels persist. In a statement Rab Nawaz, Director Sindh, WWF-Pakistan, admitted that coastal areas of Sindh including mangroves, wetlands and millions of hectares of land are being lost due to rise in sea level and sea water intrusion. The local ecosystem is further affected by the change in patterns of migratory birds. Continuous development at coastal areas coupled with the previously mentioned problem of loss of land reduces the ability of the natural ecosystem to replenish and heal itself. In addition, coastal and marine ecosystems are also expected to be affected by ocean acidification, a phenomenon triggered by the rising levels of atmospheric CO2. Given the gravity of the circumstances, it is vital that we take immediate action, in collaboration with the national and international community, to identify measures that will enable us to effectively cope with the ramifications of climate change. ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● References https://reliefweb.int/report/pakistan/impact-climate-change-karachi-may-beone-pakistan-s-biggest-threats CLIMATE CHANGE: KARACHI’S CLIMATE CHANGE DENIAL - Newspaper DAWN.COM https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667278221000110 https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/904708-karachi-could-be-completelysubmerged-by-2060-warn-experts https://talkofthecities.iclei.org/fighting-climate-change-in-pakistan-the-case-ofkarachi/ https://www.pakissan.com/english/issues/climate.change.coastal.areas.Pakistan .shtml#:~:text=In%20Sindh%2C%20due%20to%20climate,the%20impacts%20 of%20climate%20change. https://www.noaa.gov/education/resource-collections/climate/climate-changeimpacts https://climate.nasa.gov/effects/ https://19january2017snapshot.epa.gov/climate-impacts/climate-impactscoastal-areas_.html
