Govt establishes National Task Force to tackle severe heatwave

News Desk

Federal Minister for Climate Change, Senator Sherry Rehman shared on Monday that the Prime Minister in an important move has established a National Task Force to help to support the government initiatives to mitigate the impact of severe heatwave and GLOF events.

Addressing a joint press conference,  flanked by Chairman of the  National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA),  Lieutenant General Akhter Nawaz Satti, and Additional Secretary Ministry of Climate Change Jodat Ayaz, she said the first meeting of the Task Force has been convened by the Prime Minister in the evening to be participated by all the provinces.

Senator Rehman said that the meeting of the Task Force would decide on what the appropriate measures can be taken to mitigate the impact of the heatwave. “The heatwave has spiked up and gained longevity in its span. The glaciers in the north are melting rapidly because of prolonged and extreme temperature spikes. The task force would comprise relevant chief secretaries, federal and provincial ministries and departments.”

The Minister said the growing environmental degradation has emerged as an existential threat to the country’s well requiring a nationwide approach.

“Pakistan has seen 152 extreme weather events in the past 20 years, due to which the UN put Pakistan among the top 23 most droughts hit countries and is among the top 10 affected countries due to climate change”, she added.

Senator Sherry underlined that Pakistan was mostly affected due to regional greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) but we need a coordinated local response to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

“The international conferences like COPs are important to drive efforts to address climate change. Pakistan has less than one percent GHG emissions but the developed world has neglected the country despite its increased burden of natural disasters”.

She added that it was not only a matter of water scarcity or temperature rise, the heatwave would severely impact Sindh’s agriculture which makes the country’s half food basket.

“We have established over 1,000 heatwave Centres in Sindh and Punjab and the first meeting is being chaired by the Secretary Ministry of Climate Change (MoCC).

The heatwave will have serious impacts on the masses and our early communication can help save lives“, she added. The Met Office has indicated a prolonged heatwave till June.  The Ministry is actively engaged in advising provinces in this regard.

“Awareness is a must and we will have to make communication on behavior change which is the need of the hour”. However, she shared that the Ministry lacked a communication strategy and was understaffed. The Ten Billion Tree Tsunami Plantation project has raised many apprehensions of the stakeholders and a probe would be launched to ensure transparency which was the only project of the Ministry under the previous regime.” Pakistan is the third most water-stressed country in the world and its status is shifting from water stress to water-scarce nation that will have a huge impact on the country”.

A recent glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) incident occurred due to the melting of the glacial lake formed at Shishper Glacier that partially damaged the Karakoram Highway (KKH). She stated that “There are 30-31 potential lakes to outburst out of 3044 total serious glacial lakes.”

The Climate Change Council was not convened for the past four years which was a crucial forum with the representation of the provinces, she added, “Pakistan has for the first time entered into summers without any spring season. If we fail to take preparedness measures then it will occur again in the next year due to global warming.”

Chipping in the media conference, Additional Secretary MoCC Jodat Ayaz said the climate National Task Force to tackle severe heatwave, GLOFs set up