Photo by EJ Wolfson via UNSPLASH
After the August 26 flood, 129 people have already been found dead under the rubble and mud and the town is destroyed. Flooding and natural disasters are not new to Afghanistan or Pakistan, but experts warn they could increase with climate change altering weather patterns. Worse yet, both countries are ranked high as vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and among the countries least prepared to deal with the effects.
The UNDP’s Chief of Livelihoods and Resilience warns “climate change, conflict, displacement, and urbanization are linked, climate change is a risk multiplier in the complex socio-economic and political context of Afghanistan.”
So far Pakistan’s monsoon rains this year have killed 233 people, and destroyed more than 1,300 homes. Karachi usually would receive five inches of rain from July to September, but this year it has seen more than 19 inches already.
The Karachi head of Pakistan’s meteorological department says the effects of climate change are already being seen and felt.
Land and housing pressures from above average birth rates are already being felt, and if political negotiations go well, Afghan refugee returnees from Iran and Pakistan will further increase those pressures.
Thus far, Pakistan’s national climate change adaptation plans have been sidelined by a lack of money and capacity. (Telegraph)