Climate Change, COP 27, and Pakistan at the United Nations Climate Change Conference on November 20, 2022;

Climate Change, COP 27, and Pakistan at the United Nations Climate Change Conference on November 20, 2022; 

The Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, more commonly referred to as COP27, came to a major agreement to provide funding for "loss and damage" to vulnerable nations that have been severely affected by climate disasters.

This is a major outcome of the 27th Conference of the Parties (COP27), which discussed numerous climate change-related issues and their negative effects.

The Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), also known as the COP27, took place in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, from November 6 to November 20, 2022.

The Pakistani delegation that was led by Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif went to the conference with a lot of clear complaints about the states that are important for climate change.

It is important to note that COP27 took place just a few weeks after a devastating flood in Pakistan destroyed many parts of the country.

This flood severely affected three Pakistani provinces; Sindh, Balochistan, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

This flood severely affected over 33 million people, causing over $30 billion in losses for the nation.

It is unfortunate that, despite obvious signs of climate change and environmental degradation, the majority of people and even government officials had incorrect notions about whether climate change was actually taking place.

There are, in fact, four facts about the changing climate. The first fact is that climate change has been taking place for a long time and is getting worse as time goes on.

Second, in addition to natural factors, human activities like rapid industrialization, pollution, and deforestation are the primary contributors to climate change.

Thirdly, it is unquestionable that the rich industrial states of the global north are primarily to blame for the rapid climate change on a global scale.

Four, developing and underdeveloped nations in the global south are the ultimate victims of climate change.

Fifth, climate change poses a threat that multiplies and compromises the national security of developing nations like Pakistan.

Climate change has some connection to a state's national security, and Pakistan is more vulnerable from this point of view.

Extreme weather has a greater and more direct impact on states' national security, according to assessments made by security professionals from around the world.

Food security, human security, the safety of water sources, border security, and all other aspects of state security are all included in the concept of national security.

In addition, significant resources for national defense are being diverted and seriously undermined as a result of the rapidly shifting climate patterns.

According to the Global Climate Risk Index-2022, Pakistan is the eighth most vulnerable nation.

vulnerabilities to the effects of climate change; in August and September of 2022, water stress, desertification, glacier melting, extreme weather, and flooding.

Sadly, Pakistan's climate is the most affected in the world, despite its tiny 0.8% contribution to GHG emissions worldwide.

Pakistan's three regions include Due to their complete reliance on agriculture and herding, which are weather-dependent activities that are impacted by climate change, the Thar Desert, southern Punjab, and southwest Baluchistan are particularly vulnerable.

According to a recent report from the World Bank, both climate-sensitive and carbon-intensive scenarios indicate that Pakistan's living standards will decline across its territory by 2050.

Poverty, diseases, and an increase in the number of crimes may all result from these poor living conditions. Climate change may make these conditions even worse, making them ideal breeding grounds for organized crime, militant dissident groups, terrorism, and violent political uprisings.

The fact that ethnic and provincial conflicts are being exacerbated by climate change is a significant aspect.

In Pakistan, tensions between provinces over resource allocation and inequality, particularly regarding the distribution of Indus Water System water, are growing.

Pakistan is in a predicament as a result of the accusations and counteraccusations. Provincial and ethnic rivalries developed as a result of the process.

Pakistan's political stability and economic progress will be hindered by a conflicted situation and likelihood of chaos.

“We have determined a way forward on a decades-long conversation on funding for loss and damage – deliberating over how we ad-dress the impacts on communities whose lives and livelihoods have been ru-ined by the very worst impacts of climate change,” UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Mr. Simon Stiell stated at the conclusion of COP27.

However, this declaration is merely a promise without any concrete, enduring action. Even though it is not legally binding, it is a promise for post-damage compensation (funding).

There is currently no viable strategy in place to halt or slow the pace of climate change, which is solely the responsibility of industrialized and wealthy nations in the global north.

Instead of relying on the "funding for loss and damage" promises made at COP 27, Pakistan must develop its own national strategies at three levels: medium-term, long-term, and short-term.

The short-term strategy should include immediate measures to either reduce or prevent further environmental degradation and climate change.

In order to achieve two goals, all stakeholders should be included in the medium-term strategy; a gradual halt to the natural and man-made factors that contribute to climate change, as well as the protection of vulnerable regions through nation-wide remedial measures.

For flood water preservation and disposal, particularly during the monsoon, both strategies must include the construction of large and small dams in all scenarios.

A constitutional package for the formulation of national policies on all issues related to national preservation and constitutional safeguards against any attempt to cause environmental degradation and climate change should be the goal of the long-term strategy.