Floods in Pakistan this year alone have killed hundreds of people, left millions homeless and destroyed crops over tens of thousands of hectares. In its Global Climate Risk Index 2014, the think tank Germanwatch ranked Pakistan third in its list of countries most affected by climate change, after Haiti and the Philippines.
Yet Pakistan's climate-change budget for 2013–14 was 44% lower than the previous year's. Furthermore, the federal government has largely devolved responsibility for environmental issues to the provinces, which cannot or will not commit resources to climate-change policies.
It is important that the principles of disaster management are simplified so that the public can understand them and question government responses where necessary. Many citizens already realize that towns are being flooded as a result of illegal building on neighbouring floodplains and waterways.
Diplomacy in India and Pakistan has secured reciprocal arrangements for flood relief, but this is not enough. Rainfall data need to be coordinated and exchanged between the two countries to improve flood forecasting and disaster-management governance through organizations such as the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation.
Pakistan and most other developing countries have little influence on actions determined by Western countries to reduce carbon emissions. The best option for developing nations is to offset the negative effects of rising temperatures and extreme events by developing weather-tolerant crops and housing, by planning for effective land use, and by improving energy efficiency.
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Cheema, A. Pakistan must invest in adaptation. Nature 514, 305 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/514305a
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/514305a
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