Pakistan learnt nothing from the heatwave episode in Karachi and it won’t learn anything from the Lahore smog. The historic heatwave of mid-June 2015 in Karachi, somehow helped in convincing the masses of Pakistan that climate change is real. 

After that, Pakistan took an important step by becoming the signatory of the Paris Agreement and later on making amendments in policies to mitigate the climate change in the region. 

Smog usually occurs due the high emission rates from the vehicles and factories and also due to the burning of agricultural waste. It contains a mixture of poisonous gases which can cause difficulty in breathing and eye irritation. And the blame of this smog on India is just like icing on the cake; when is the government of Pakistan going to accept some responsibility that it has towards its people? No doubt, smog can become transboundary, but local activities always play a major role in aggravating the situation. 

We have so much solar energy almost throughout the year and the region of Gwadar in Balochistan and many northern areas have high wind pressures which can be very beneficial and cost effective sources of energy in Pakistan. 

We have experienced longer summer this year, and in order to reduce the threat of climate change, there is a need to keep temperature below 1.5 degrees and that cannot be made possible if we keep on reducing our forest cover and make coal our energy production source. Although, the government has recently passed the Climate Change Act, we do not only need paperwork, we need immediate action. Now that the Paris Agreement has come into force, we can just hope for some implementation in this sector by the government. 

ZAINAB NAEEM,  

Rawalpindi, November 6.