9/30/2014

Pakistans glaciers will melt by 2035 - Pakistan - DAWN.COM

Pakistans glaciers will melt by 2035

By A Reporter
Published Nov 06, 2013 07:19am

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The minister said in the past 100 years, the
average temperature of the world had
increased by one degree centigrade. File
Photo

Visit did not

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ISLAMABAD: Glaciers in Pakistan are continuously melting

because of rising temperature, and by the year 2035, the country
will no longer have water reserves in the shape of glaciers.
This was stated by Federal Minister for Science and Technology
Zahid Hamid while addressing the inaugural ceremony of the
International Conference on Plants, People and Climate 2013 on
Tuesday.

What is the
Karakoram
Anomaly?

The three-day conference has been organised by the Pakistan

Council for Science and Technology in collaboration with five other
departments of the National University of Science and Technology
(Nust).
The minister said in the past 100 years, the average temperature of
the world had increased by one degree centigrade.
Pakistan is contributing roughly 0.34 per cent of green house gases
which are responsible for global warming. However, it is the eight
most vulnerable country facing climate changes, the minister said.
He added that siltation of dams was continuously increasing while
forest cover was decreasing. In 2010, floods forced 20 million people
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Pakistans glaciers will melt by 2035 - Pakistan - DAWN.COM

forest cover was decreasing. In 2010, floods forced 20 million people

to abandon their houses, he said.
If global warming continues in the next few years, we will face more
natural disasters, the minister said.
Similarly, Secretary Climate Change Division Raja Hasan Abbas said
during the past few years, almost 1,700 people had died in the
country because of the floods. In addition, the country faced a loss of
$15 billion, he added.
23 per cent people in Pakistan are at a risk of floods. The glaciers
will melt in the next two to three decades and after that, we will face
an acute water shortage due to which the risk of food scarcity will
increase, he said.
A climate change policy had been approved in 2012 and we are
trying our best to implement it, he added.
The secretary of the Ministry for Science and Technology, Kamran Ali
Qureshi, said water was important for life and there was a dire need
for research to face the effects of climate changes. He added that not
only was water being contaminated but plants were also being
affected.
We have to save our water resources because there will be no life
without them, he said.
Pro-Rector Nust Dr Asif Raza said scholars and researchers from all
over the world, including United States, China, Switzerland, Nepal
and Malaysia, would be participating in the conference.

Nust has provided a platform for such conferences. The floods of

2010 adversely affected the country and I am hoping that researchers
will recommend the solution to global warming, he said.
Mohammad Ammar, a student of civil engineering at Nust Institute of
Civil Engineering (NICE), while talking to Dawn, said environment
issues had become very important especially in Pakistan.
Murree has been greatly affected by construction work. If I got a
chance, I would change Murree back to the same city it was around
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Pakistans glaciers will melt by 2035 - Pakistan - DAWN.COM

two decades ago, he said.

It is embarrassing that every year a fires is observed on the Margalla
Hills to cover illegal wood cutting. The government should take steps
to resolve such issues, he added.

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