LAHORE – Pakistan’s economy is facing loss due to climate change and there is a need for an efficient national policy with active involvement of scientists, agriculturists, city planners and healthcare providers.
The Regional Chairman of FPCCI Horticulture Exports Committee, Ahmad Jawad said this on Friday. He said climate change is already causing 0.7 per cent loss to the country’s annual GDP. “Ground realities in terms of surge in the incidence rate of natural calamities coupled with poor managerial skills at varied levels is feared to expose country to further loss,” claimed the expert.
Emphasizing that people across the country must realize that climate change is a fact affecting their lives in various ways, Ahmad Jawad said that while climate change cannot be denied, its intensity can be significantly reduced through an efficient and pragmatic approach.
“Collective wisdom is definitely needed,” he reiterated mentioning that traditional practices applied by farmers can always be complemented with adequate technological interventions. “This will help us to prepare for climate change induced dangers that lie ahead,” said Ahmad Jawad adding that floods, storms, landslides, droughts, wildfire, hail and tornados are the new norms of South Asia’s ecology.
Elaborating his stance, he said increases in global temperature have not only led to rise in sea levels, but have also impacted the availability of agricultural land for cultivation. “Equally alarming is the influence of rising temperatures on growing conditions for crops, with increases in crop failures and production declines threatening regional food security,” he said.
Ahmad Jawad said it was the need of the hour to revamp the agriculture sector in consonance with the modern trends to increase production and to make it profitable. Regretting that agriculture sector in the country lags far behind many of the other parts of world, he suggested the need to promote drill sowing and quality seed especially for wheat and cotton that will enhance the growth rate upto 4%.
