One fine cozy morning I woke up to the news broadcasting on the television; “one third of the country is under water; according to the government reports the flood damage in Pakistan is far reaching, leaving close to three quarters of a million people without access to safe and adequate housing “the reporter was saying; that day would have been like any other day for me if it wasn’t for the news I just had heard.

And I began to think about those days where we survived the heats of summer without air conditioners or fans; it was just a few years back and as someone who had studied science I knew who the villain behind this all _ is the climate change.

 I always had appreciated all types of changes because I firmly believe that the only thing that remains constant in this world is the one and only change but this time it’s different, you see Climate is the average weather in a place over many years .climate change is a shift in average conditions, it refers to long term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns .these shifts may be natural, but since the industrial revolution the main causes of this problem is manmade stuff. Climate change is the significant variation of average weather conditions for becoming, for example warmer, wetter or drier over several decades or even longer. The main thing here is the fact that this change is too rapid and fast; so fast that we are not ready for the problems it could possibly bring to us!!

 The climate change has become a global concern over the last few decades, besides these climatic changes affect life on earth in various ways; these climatic changes are having various impacts on the ecosystem and ecology. Due to these changes a number of species of plants and animals have gone extinct. As greenhouse gas emissions blanket the earth, they trap sun’s heat, this leads to global warming and climate change .the world is now warming faster than any point recoded in history. The main factors contributing to global climate change include burning fossil fuels to generate electricity, manufacturing goods, cutting down of forests, using transportation, producing food, powering buildings and consuming too much of everything.

Climate change is a major issue for our country.it wouldn’t be wrong to say that the impacts of climate change in these upcoming years is going to strangle the whole country. Climate change has been one of the most talked about issue, particularly since the start of twenty first century .there are a number of factors contributing to the increasingly erratic weather patterns witnessed all over the world ,with carbon emission being the major one, according to German watch ,publisher of the climate change CCPI, Pakistan is the seventh most vulnerable country to climate change, what makes the, situation more freighting and horrible is the fact that more than half of the population lives on less than two dollars a day which means they live in extreme poverty and most importantly  and country relies on its diminishing resources quite heavily. As a developing country with abject poverty and severely limited resources, climate change has the potential to become the biggest and most destructive problem for Pakistan in upcoming years. But the saddest realization is that even though Pakistan is classified as one of the most vulnerable countries with respect to climate change, it’s not a major emitter of greenhouse gases. In fact, Pakistan’s emission levels are negligible standing at a mere 0.7 percent of the total world’s emissions. Simply Pakistan is a victim of climate change.

The impacts of climate change has already started to show for more than a decade, extreme weather events such as cyclones or intense monsoons have been increased due to increased sea and atmospheric temperature and because of that there has been a highly considerable rate of frequent droughts and intense floods.

Sea rise level is another major problem that Pakistan is facing being a victim, according to the National Institute of Oceanography, Pakistan the Karachi coast is estimated at 1.1mm per year which is highly alarming. This change in sea level is thought to be due to two major processes, first one being thermal expansions of glaciers and the second one; the melting of glacier mass. This sea level is harmful for the nature, resulting in degradation of mangrove forests, declining drinking water, decrease in fish and shrimp and soil erosion along the costal belt.

The other impacts of climate change in Pakistan include melting of glaciers; glacial retreat in the northern areas poses high risks of melt water flooding, in 2020 melting of a glacier in Shispare led to evacuations in the village of Hassanabad, Hunza and later and later on in May 2022, the Hassanabad bridge collapsed after when after a heat wave caused the glacier to release large amounts of water into the stream causing a huge problem for the locals and making a big disruption to the transport. 

The climate change is not only disturbing the nature but also impacting the people, in the form of floods and droughts and most important of all it has affected the availability of resources such as energy and water, the effects of climate change are evident, a lot of people are unaware of the meaning of climate change and assume that changes in climate and extreme weather events are the will of supremacy.        Although the situation seem like being in a pitch dark tunnel with not a ray of light in sight however there is still hope, there is still hope that we can turn the tables. Although the time is running like ever we can still manage to save our beloved country and mother earth; after all we have only one planet sustainable for life. We surely can’t solve this problem overnight but instead by taking small steps at a time like planting trees, less consuming of energy using the three Rs rule of reducing, recycling and reusing and less emissions of greenhouse gases. By taking these steps consistently and encouraging others in this mission to save the world we can save this world for sure!!!