Tiers of Action

Tiers of Action

LEAD Pakistan’s actions and interventions on climate change, through it Climate Action Programme, are at three levels:

1. Marco-level/Policy:

At the macro-level, LEAD, through its L-CAP will draw on international and national bodies, emphasizing four policy arenas: (i) integration of climate change sensitivity into key sectoral policies (ii) development of climate change-specific policies and strategies (iii) position development and capacity building for international negotiations and (iv) enhancing coordination capacity of a policy community - centered on the Ministry of Environment - to mobilize multiple stakeholders across sectors.

Macro-level Projects:

-Roadmap for Climate Change

-Corporate Summit on Climate Change

-Scoping Study on Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation

-Climate Change Summit for SIndh Parliamentarians

-Climate Change Summit for Punjab Parliamentarians

-Climate Development and Knowledge Network

-Multi-sectoral Dialogue Forest Laws

-Task Force Report on Climate Change

1. Meso-level/Organizations: Given the extent and range of climate change impacts, LEAD is working towards capacity development of key organizations and associations relevant to climate change. At this meso, implementation level, LEAD seeks to fill the significant gap in critical awareness of climate change. Interventions under this objective will emphasize communications and training, with the emphasis both on general awareness of climate changebut also on how it may be addressed within the mainstream of organizational work.

Meso-level Projects:

-Ecological Footprint Calculator

-Corporate Summit on Climate Change

-LDP Cohort 13, 14 and 15

-Media Summit on Climate Change

-Knowledge Network on Climate Change

-Climate Leaders Action Network

-Regional Journalists Workshop on Climate Change

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1. Micro-level/Grassroots: At the micro, outcome level, LEAD seeks to empower grassroots communities to cope with climate change, based on specific, vulnerability analyses. LEAD is in process of developing large-scale, replicable adaptation models through change agents. These models will be disseminated nationally, along with mass communication strategies for raising awareness.
   

Micro-level Projects:

-DRN Balakot

-IDPs

-National Alliance for Climate Action

Focus Areas

LEAD Pakistan realizes that climate change will indisputably have wide-ranging effects on the environment and socio-economic status of populations, especially in water resources, agriculture and food security, human health, terrestrial ecosystems and biodiversity and coastal zones.

Keeping this in mind, LEAD Pakistan’s actions and interventions will focus on these key areas that are affected because of climate change:

Water Resources

IPCC predicts a continued decline in freshwater availability (Climate Change and Water”, IPCC Technical Paper VI-June, 2008), particularly in large basins like the Indus, the flow of which constitutes the main source of surface water in Pakistan. According to the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA), per capita surface water availability plunged from 5260m3 per year in 1951 to 1100m3 in 2006, and is expected to decrease further with the dual impacts of rising temperatures and increasing demand. A critical irrigation supply scenario is expected to emerge in Pakistan by the year 2012-2013, contributing to a projected 12 million tons deficit in grain production.[1]

Projects (give links here):

• Regional Journalists Workshop on Climate Change, Marriott Hotel Islamabad, Pakistan - March 2010
• The Roles & Capacities of Actors in Water Conflicts in Pakistan: A Mapping Study – Oct-Dec 2008

Agriculture and Food Security

Climate Change enhances the susceptibility of agricultural zones to episodic natural catastrophes such as storms, floods and droughts, in turn exposing countries to the threat of socio-economic losses. The multi-functionality of agriculture is a recognized feature of Pakistan’s socio-economic system. These observations confirm findings from studies that have demonstrated a sensitivity of cereal and tree crop to changes in temperature and moisture. With just a 1oC rise in temperature, wheat yield in Pakistan is estimated to decline by 6-9%. Even lower temperature rises can severely impact cash crops like mango and cotton.[2]

Human Health

In view of the forecasts for future food security, water quality, increasing heat stress and growing frequency of natural disasters, the direct implications of Climate Change for human health are daunting. Furthermore, vector-borne diseases such as malaria, dengue, typhoid and cholera that are already a significant cause of mortality and morbidity in Pakistan are climate sensitive and known to thrive in warmer regions. An increase in epidemic potential of 12-27 per cent for malaria and 31-47 per cent for dengue is anticipated as a consequence of climate change.[3]

The cost of health in Pakistan, which already exceeds one billion US dollars, will keep escalating with the projected climatic changes, and further impact poverty reduction and health improvement targets of the country. Moreover, increasing prevalence of disease in the region has consequences for food security as well: an increasing prevalence of certain types of diseases and ailments among livestock has been observed in the country as an effect of rising temperatures.[4]

Projects (also give links):

Climate Change and Health: Creating Leadership-

Terrestrial Ecosystems

In recent years, enormous pressures have been put on Pakistan’s ecosystems to support the ever-growing demand for natural resources. The most affected areas are coastal and marine ecosystems, forests and mountainous regions and the flora and fauna within them. Climate change will have a profound effect on the future distribution, productivity, and health of forests. Grassland productivity is expected to decline by at least 40 per cent for an increase in temperature of 2 – 3° C, combined with reduced precipitation in the semi-arid and arid regions of Asia[5].

Projects:

Ecological Footprint Office Calculator

Corporate Summit on Climate Change

Coastal Zones and Marine Ecosystems

The climatic and agro-agriculture zones in Pakistan are as sensitive as they are diverse and some are already under threat of extinction as a consequence of global warming. At particular risk from the ecological dis-equilibrium are populations in marginal zones, coastal/maritime, mountain and arid areas. Those living in coastal zones are even more vulnerable. Swelling sea levels on the 990 km coastline coupled with rising sea surface temperatures could potentially wreak havoc on many coastal towns and cities. Coastal Karachi, Pakistan’s largest urban center, is increasingly subjected to floods and storms, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of people. The survival of important coastal ecosystems like mangrove swamps is also under threat with the intrusion of saline water and rising temperature. The loss of mangroves not only weakens the protection from floods but also destroys the habitat of various species residing within the swamps, some of which are sources of livelihood for poor communities engaging in sustainable fishing.

Natural Disasters

Besides the long-term effects of climate change, as above, there has also been a recorded, dramatic increase in the number and scale of extreme, weather-related events. The British Government (DFID) notes that, ‘Climate change is resulting in an increase in the frequency and severity of climatic extremes, which increases the frequency of weather-related disasters. Climate change hits the poor hardest and the greatest impacts are likely to be on food security, the productivity of agricultural export crops, health, water security and quality. It is also likely to result in the displacement of people.’

Weather-related disasters from less than 200 every year in the decades of 1980s and 1990s, rose to one every day on average between 2000 and 2006. Over the past 10 years, weather-related disasters have affected 2.5 billion people. 98% of those killed in natural disasters across the world are in developing countries, underlining the link between vulnerability to disasters and poverty.

Typically, many resources are spent after disasters, rather than trying to prevent the damage they cost by helping the poor to adapt. Not enough is being done globally to adapt to the effects of climate change and prevent weather-related extreme events from turning into human disasters. To-date, there has been no systematic mapping or trend-analysis of weather-related natural disasters in Pakistan.

Projects:

DRN Balakot 1, 2 and 3

IDPs project

Gender, Youth, and Good Governance Within these tiers, LEAD Pakistan works on cross-cutting themes including gender sensitivity, good governance and diversity. LEAD Pakistan’s Climate Action Programme will build on key strengths to ensure diversity and multi-stakeholder engagement, especially including gender and youth perspectives.

What’s New

Climate Change and Health: Creating Leadership

Leadership Development Programme- Cohort 15 selected

A seventeen member cohort comprising of health professionals working at middle and senior management level in the health sector of the country is selected as LEAD Pakistan’s Cohort 15 for the 2010 - 2011. The theme of the Cohort is “Climate Change and Health: Creating Leadership.” All these professionals are well reputed and renowned in the fields of community medicine and environmental health.

In Pakistan, likein other developing countries, apart from a dedicated few, health professionals have not come to the climate change debate or their participation is negligible. Therefore LEAD Pakistan has just hired the health professionals in this cohort with a purpose to maximize the exposure of these sector specific professionals on the issues of climate change. This cohort will create a bridge between the country’s health related scientific community and its policy makers, by enabling the former with the necessary skills required to understand climate related risks to health which will in turn be made available to decision makers for sectoral adaptation plans.

Like the previous conventional cohorts, this cohort will also undergo a series of national and international sessions, undertake an action research and develop policy papers. These papers will be done in the groups instead of individuals and will in turn be published in related international and national journals. In addition to this, findings from these papers will be made available to the concerned decision makers within the Ministries of health and environment with a view that these form the essential basis for future planning regarding climate change agenda in the country. Read More:

Capacity Building and Seminars

Capacity Development of the Scientific Community for Assessing the Health Impacts of Climate Change:Asia Pacific Network- Trainings, June 2010

To address the yawning information gap in the area, LEAD in collaboration with the Asia Pacific Network for Global Change Research has envisioned a project that aims to strengthen the health scientists’ research capacities on health effects of climate change. With their knowledge about the effect of weather on the incidence and prevalence of diseases serving as baseline, this exercise would enhance their understanding of the risks and vulnerabilities posed by climate change to human health.
In the above context LEAD Pakistan has planned trainings in the mid of June, 2010. These trainings are aimed at increasing members’ understanding of the climate change phenomena and its impacts and dynamics, especially on human health, at the global and local levels; developing their understanding of linkages between climate change and health research; creating in them the awareness of knowledge gaps in the climate change and health research sector and building their capacity to analyse climate data in the context of health impacts and indicators.

[1] Kalabagh Dam Project, WAPDA

[2]Kelkar & Bhadwal. 2007. “South Asian Regional Study on Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation: Implications for Human Development.” UNDP, Human Development Report Office

[3]M.A. Erik Haites. September 2000. “The Kyoto Mechanisms and Global Climate Change”

[4] LEAD. 2007. “Pakistan’s Option for Climate Change Mitigation & Adaptation (Scoping Study).” Islamabad

[5] UNFCCC. 2007. “Climate Change : Impacts, Vulnerabilities and Adaptation in Developing Countries.”