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Topic
1 1
Introduction
2 Causes of Global warming 2

3 Effects of Global Warming 3

4 Impacts of Global Warming on Pakistan 4

5 Recent climatic catatrophies in pakistan 5

6 Effects of climate change on food security of Pakistan 8

7 Who’s fault is it? 9

SUBMITTED BY;
HASNAIN ABBAS
8 Is it too late tostop it? BERET NO 273/10 10
CLASS 4
9 Solutions 11
SUBMITTED YO
IP LEGAL MAM FOZIA
10 Conclusion 12

GLOBAL
11 Refrences 12

WARMING
Individual Research Paper
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Introduction
Global warming is the hot new topic of this century as catastrophic climatic
events keep on ravaging the whole planet, annihilating entire villages and
towns, and financially crippling the affected regimes. Global warming is a
very real threat to humanity which is something almost all of the major
countries agree on and, of course, all of us involved in this solar blog. There
are many causes of global warming. Green House Effect, Deforestation,
burning of fossil fuels, depletion of ozone etc. all are the causes of global
warming. This topic comprise effects of global warming on the world
generally and particularly on Pakistan. Further global temperature rise
trend is also discussed in it. who is responsible of global warming and
severity of threat if it is not controlled. Further some practical solutions to
control it. Therefore there is a growing consensus that steps will have to be
taken to uproot or minimize the cause of global warming.
“We will be the last generation to control the causes
of global warming. History will judge us badly if we
fail to deal with this issue”
(Ban Ki Moon)

Causes of GLOBAL WARMING

Green house effect
The green house effect is a natural process by which the
earth retains some of the energy of the sunrays, and utilizes
it to warm it enough to sustain life on it. This process is
mediated by the presence of some gases in the earth’s
surroundings, that form a layer around it, and are known as
Greenhouse Gases (GHG’s).

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Enhanced Green House Effect- Global warming

The term Global warming and enhanced green house effect
are synonymous with each other. The human activities like
burning of fossil fuels, excessive smoke discharges from
factories and the depletion of forests have led to an increase
in the concentration of the Greenhouse Gases (GHG’s),
mainly carbon dioxide, Methane and Nitrous oxide, in the
earth’s outer atmosphere which are responsible for trapping
excessive heat inside the environment and thus increasing
the overall temperature of the earth, leading to the
phenomenon of Global Warming.
Deforestation
Trees are the natural protectors of environment.
Unfortunately, expansion of cities and agricultural crops lead
to deforestation. This has effected badly the natural defense
system of environment.
Burning of fossil fuels
The main drawback from using fossil fuels as a source of energy is
that to generate electricity, we need to burn them, which leads to high
carbon dioxide emissions that contaminate our planet and accelerate
climate change. You can see below, the amount of CO2 produced
when a fuel is burned as a function of the carbon content.

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Pounds of CO2 emitted per million British thermal units of energy

Effects of Global Warming

IMPACT ON ENVIRONMENT
Shrinking habitats (forests and wetlands)
Desertification
Damage to aquatic ecosystems
Upward migration of plant and animal species
extinction of certain species
Change in growing season of plants
EXTREMITIES IN WEATHER
cyclones and hurricanes
floods and heavy snowfalls
Severe droughts
long summers and short winters
IMPACT ON WATER RESERVOIRS
Decrease in fresh water supply
melting of glaciers
Rising se a levels
Increased water loss from reservoirs due to dryness

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Global warming has affected the climate of Pakistan in the following manners.

Temperature Rise
The earth’s temperature has warmed by 0.74 degree Celsius
over the last 100 years. This has resulted in a devastating
disruption of the earth’s climatic processes, leading to
floods, famines, droughts and cyclones among other natural
disasters.

Global Temperature Rise Source: NASA

IMPACTS OF GLOBAL WARMING ON

PAKISTAN
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE PROFILE OF PAKISTAN
Pakistan is an autonomous country that occupies a strategic location in South Asia, with a wide
variety of landscapes. On the southern side, the country has a coastline border of 1046 km along
the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman while the northern side exhibits the awesome glaciated
mountains that attract mountain climbers from all over the world.
The major portion of the Pakistani land is dry and barren, mainly because of the great variability
in the climatic parameters. The major water resource of Pakistan is the melting snow from the
Himalayan glaciers, as well the heavy monsoon rainfalls.
EFFECTS OF GLOBAL WARMING ON CLIMATE OF
PAKISTAN
Although Pakistan itself contributes very little to the overall emissions of the Greenhouse Gases,
yet it remains one of the most severely hit countries of the world by the process of Global
warming.

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RECENT CLIMATIC CATASTROPHES IN PAKISTAN

Pakistan ranks 16th on the Climate Change Vulnerability Index (CCVI) by Maple Croft, jumping
up 13 positions in one year. German watch also places Pakistan as the “most affected” country
for 2010 and in top 10 for 1990-2010 by climatic changes. Climate changes are costing the
economy $14 billion a year, which is almost 5% of the GDP. According to the Asian Development
Bank, more than 10 million people have been displaced in Pakistan over the last 2 years due to
these climate related disasters.
Given below is a brief summary of the recent disastrous climatic changes in Pakistan
1. FLOODS
Pakistan’s economy has been crippled heavily by devastating and repetitive floods during the last
decade. In the past 10 years, Pakistan has been hit by floods almost every year. However, the
floods of 2010 and 2011 have emerged as the biggest catastrophes in the country’s history.
2010 floods

The flood of 2010 remains as one of the biggest tragedies in the world’s history, with 20 million
people affected by it. The floods resulted in approximately 1,781 deaths, injured 2,966 people
and destroyed more than 1.89 million homes.

2011 floods
Although nowhere near the 2010 floods, the 2011 floods also wreaked havoc, and affected 5.3
million people and 1.2 million homes in Sind, as well as inundating 1.7 million acres of arable
land.

A distressed woman clutches her children as she wades through shoulder high water in the flood
affected areas of Sind.

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2. DROUGHTS
A Drought is a period of abnormally dry weather due to the lack of rainfall.
The chief characteristic of a drought is a decrease of water availability in a
particular period and over a particular area.
Pakistan’s economy has been punched heavily by the continuous spell of droughts for the last
many years, particularly in the provinces of Baluchistan and Sind. The drought in these areas
has reduced the river flows, resulting in drying up of the irrigation canals, leading to a severe
agricultural deprivation. It has also been responsible for causing immense losses to poultry and
other animals, causing a general deficiency of food and water for people. The increased
temperatures because of the increased GHGs as well as a mismanagement of the water
reservoirs need to be blamed for the condition.

3. INCREASING FREQUENCY OF CYCLONES

Tropical cyclones are also a dreaded characteristic of the climate in various parts of Pakistan. As
a result of global warming, the frequency of Cyclones has increased over the Arabian Sea during
the last 50 years. Moreover, the intensity of these cyclones has also increased during the last
quarter of the 20th century. Strong tropical activity in the Arabian sea in 2001, 2004, 2007,
2010 and 2011 shows an increasing trend towards more cyclones, indicating that there are
bright chances that future cyclones can directly strike mega metropolis cities like Karachi and
kill thousands of people and may change the way these cities used to live.

4. RISING TEMPERATURES IN PAKISTAN

As an ill effect of global warming, the annual mean surface temperatures in Pakistan have been
steadily increasing during the past century. A rise in mean temperature of 0.6-1°C in the coastal
areas along with a 0.5 to 0.7% increase in solar radiation over southern half of country has been
observed. In central Pakistan, a 3-5% decrease in cloud cover with increasing hours of sunshine
have also been responsible for increasing the temperatures.

5. RISING SEA LEVELS

The increasing temperatures due to global warming have resulted in a progressive melting of
glaciers, which has resulted in a gradual increase in the sea levels. According to the Karachi
Tidal Station, an increase in the mean sea level at a rate of 1.1 mm/yr has been recorded during
the past 100 years. The ravaging sea continues to engulf the surrounding land, and consumes 80
acres a day on an average. Six subdivisions of Thatta, which were previously considered
extremely prosperous due to extensive agriculture, are now amongst the poorest parts of the
country due to the engulfment by the sea. . Recent studies from NASA on Greenland and
the Arctic have demonstrated that continental-size ice formations are melting down due
to the excess heat, and they have reduced nearly 10% in the last 30 years. All of that

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melted ice goes to the ocean and is now attributed to sea level rise in the US and all
over the world, even reaching distant locations like Indonesia, China, and Japan.

6.Destruction of the ozone layer

Destruction of the ozone layer is also a secondary consequence of climate change. As

heat concentrates further in the atmosphere, the contrary process occurs in the
stratosphere. As the stratosphere cools down, and the atmosphere heats up, there is a
warming-cooling dynamic effect that causes ozone loss. Due to this ozone loss, the
ozone layer depletes and leaves the ground wide open for ultraviolet radiation to reach
our atmosphere. This can easily be seen in the ozone hole in the South Pole.

7.Heat waves

Heat waves are also a direct consequence of climate change. They mean more
frequent wildfires, longer droughts, and deaths. Actually, heat waves are considered
one of the major causes of death from natural disasters, mainly due to heat strokes that
are caused because the human’s body is unable to cool itself down due to the high
humidity in the atmosphere.

EFFECT OF CLIMATIC CHANGES ON THE

FOOD SECURITY OF PAKISTAN
Definition of food security
„Food security is achieved when all people, at all times, have physical, social
and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their
dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life‟
Situation of food security in Pakistan
Pakistan faces a severe crisis regarding the food security issues. The whole
nation has been gripped by a grave state of malnutrition as catastrophic
climatic events resulting because of the process of global warming have
destroyed the food resources and halted its availability to the masses. The
food security has diminished to such an extent that it is a norm in thousands
of houses to have foodless days.
The picture of Food deficiency in Pakistan was revealed to people all over the
world, as many heart rendering events captured by cameras hit screens
around the globe. The most appalling among these was the death of 20

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malnourished women and girls occurring as a result of a stampede to get

sacks of rice in Karachi. Similarly, the disturbing situation of food security in
Pakistan was also exposed as in 2010,as a man blew himself up at the office
of United Nations World Food Program(WFP) in Islamabad, killing 5
employees.
Role of droughts on food insecurity situation of
Pakistan
Pakistan has been in the grip of severe droughts for the last many years.
Pakistan is extremely vulnerable to these climatic changes as it is already
facing significant water shortages with temperatures touching the sky.
A Decline in the wheat yield in semi-arid areas of Pakistan in the range of 9
to 30% for temperature increases of 1 degree centigrade is estimated. The
extremely reduced crop yields in 2009 and 2010 are believed to be a
consequence of droughts. Farmers claim a 50% decrease in their crop yields,
particularly in the province of N.W.F.P.
Role of floods in food insecurity situation of
Pakistan
The mammoth floods of 2010 and 2011 wiped out the entire agricultural
apparatus of Pakistan. In addition to the destruction of the standing and
stored crops, damage to irrigation infrastructure and roads, as well as
farmers‟ losses of seeds, tools and machinery also occurred at a large scale,
annihilating entire villages and hitting the economy hard.
The 2010 floods caused widespread damage to monsoon kharif crops that
were still standing in the fields in August and early September. The losses
have been estimated at $2.2 billion in Pakistan, with rural Punjab
contributing $1.2 billion to it. The irrigated areas affected in Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa is estimated to be 400,000 hectares, which is a minion as
compared to the 1.5 million hectares in the province of Punjab, the irrigation
hub of the country.
The floods have reportedly destroyed 71% of the standing rice crop, 59% of
vegetable crop and 45% of the maize crop in the country.
Decrease in the amount of seafood
Although almost everybody is familiar with the term „Global warming‟, yet
most of the people don‟t understand its consequences on the sea life. The
human activities like burning of fossil fuels with their deadly emissions have
resulted in a gradual heating up of the oceans with a trend towards acidity of
the ocean water because of the CO2 in these emissions. Reportedly, an
increase of about 30% in the sea water acidity has occurred.
The aquatic habitats are not adaptable to these changes, and therefore are
rapidly dying out, reducing the sea food supply of people, especially in
coastal areas like Karachi and Gwadar.

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The aquatic habitats of Karachi suffered a serious devastation as on August 14th 2003,
a Greek oil tanker spilled 15,000 tonnes of crude oil across a 14 kilometre stretch of the
Karachi coast. In addition to causing a destruction of the sea life, the spill also caused
severe respiratory, digestive and skin problems for the 13 million people living in that
city.
Who’s Fault Is It?
According to the IPCC report from 2014, the energy supply sector accounted for almost
50% of all GHG emissions, making it the largest contributor to global GHG emissions.
Despite the Kyoto Protocol, GHG emissions of this sector increased 36% between
2000-2010, where the major contributors were CO2emissions from coal (43%), oil (36%)
and gas (20%). Here you can take a look at the contributions from these sources over
time.

Energy supply sector GHG emissions by subsectors

Source: IPCC
. According to data from 2017, around 10 gigatons (Gt) of CO2 were emitted in China,
over 5 GtCO2 in the US, around 2.5 GtCO2 in India and nearly 36 GtCO2 all over the
world. Watching the time evolution of carbon emissions from 1960 to 2017 leaves no
doubt that we are the cause of climate change.
Moreover, the report emphasizes that transport is another important sector which
contribution accounts for almost 23 % of total energy-related CO2 emissions.

Is It Too Late to Stop It?

The Fourth National Climate Assessment Report from the U.S Global Change Research
Program, released in November 2018, has announced an alarming top date to make a

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significant impact on carbon dioxide reductions. According to the report, if

CO2 emissions are not cut 45% by 2030, then it will be unavoidable to reach 1.5°C
increase in Earth temperature.
A range between 1.5°C and 2°C was established in the Paris Agreement, however,
reaching 2°C would already mean reaching to worst climate change consequences,
therefore, it cannot be seen as a threshold. Besides, the report concludes that by 2050
carbon emissions must be cut 100%, making a complete transition to renewable energy
sources.

solutions
Solar Energy – A Source of Light to Fight Climate Change
As one of the most commonly available, accessible, and feasible renewable energy
options, solar panels are one of the main drivers in the reduction of carbon emissions
across the globe.

We can estimate the reductions in carbon emissions by using solar panels thanks to the
IRENA calculator. The latest data available on the tool is from 2014 and still we have an
idea of the great contributions of solar energy into the market.

Experiences in the US have shown that around 17.5 million tons (MT) of CO 2 can be
avoided which translates into 22,000 GWh of electricity. China also made incredible
contributions that reach 20 MT of CO2, and 25,000 GWh of energy injected to the grid.
Germany was the greatest contributor in that year with 29 MT avoided and over 35,000
GWh produced. This can be translated into 18 million tonnes from coal sources, 3.38
million from natural gas, and 9 million from oil sources.

The contributions from other countries like Japan, Italy, Spain, France, UK, Australia,
India, and South Korea were able to amass almost 80,000 GWh together and 63 MT
avoided CO2 emissions for the environment.
As solar energy keeps growing every year, these numbers have already surpassed the
estimated values. As a reference, nearly 177 GW of installed capacity were available in
2014, but in 2017 around 402 GW of installed capacity are available worldwide.
Meaning around 130 % of growth in only 3 years.

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SOURCE Global Status Report 2018 REN 21

The Use of Residential Solar Panels

One of the best ways that most of us can contribute to the fight against climate change
is for more people to hire solar companies to install solar panels on their homes. Solar
energy presents a set of advantages that can be used to offset carbon emissions and
investing in solar for your house will also help your wallet.
Using solar lights and other solar powered home products all help towards reducing our
carbon emissions. Whilst the reductions are minimal, it’s a case of every little helps and
when done at large scales it really can make a long term difference.
More Solar Energy Means Less Fossil Fuels
While we make the transition to an almost complete renewable energy market, we must
guarantee supplies of electricity different from fossil fuels. While you purchase solar
energy it means that you are not generating GHG emissions to produce the electricity
that you need, but it also means offsetting electricity production from other fossil power
plants, reducing the GHG from both perspectives.

CONCLUSION
Thus, the erroneous activities of the humans have finally started to take a
toll on the earth‟s environment, leading to the formation of a volatile and
capricious atmosphere, which is liable to be detrimental for the humanity
itself in the form of unpredictable catalytic climatic events. The example of
such recent events include the destructive Hurricane Katrina of 2005 in the
U.S, the ravaging droughts of 2006 in Australia and China, and of 2011 in
Texas, the floods of 2010 and 2011 in Pakistan, and of 2012 in Spain, and
the 2010 Northern Hemisphere summer, which killed over 2000 people.
Pakistan, which is an already resource stressed country, has been crippled
by the process of global warming, as the blatant floods and droughts

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continue to wreck the country‟s economy. More than 10 million people have
been displaced over the last two years, the agricultural land lies barren and
financial losses have been estimated at $2 billion.
These climatic catastrophes will not die down. Research studies have
concluded that changing weather patterns will be the foundation for more
intense and prolonged droughts and heat waves. Meanwhile, tremendous
precipitation events will become more frequent and future tropical cyclones
will become more strong.
Therefore there is a growing consensus that steps will will have to be taken to uproot
the cause of these events. In addition to the formation of well thought flood and drought
prevention policies, steps to reduce the overall emission of green house gases have to
be taken so that the planet Earth and its inhabitants can survive.
SOURCES
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_floods_in_Pakistan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drought_in_Pakistan
http://www.protothema.gr/world/article/?aid=218449
http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-6-71543-Climate-change-disasters-in-
Pakistan-and-its-consequences
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_of_Pakistan
http://www.pmd.gov.pk/rnd/rnd_files/vol2_Issue3/2.%20CLIMATE%20CHANGE%20PE
RSPECTIVE%20IN%20PAKISTAN.pdf
www.feedingminds.org/fmfh/fisheries-aquaculture/glossary/en/
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/news/features/karachi-oil-spill-devastation/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/natural-disasters.
2019 Climate Change Report

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