Pakistan’s parliament recently became the first of its kind by running exclusively on solar energy. While many would see that as a sign of progression and understanding of the issues of the natural environment, the exact opposite is true. The current government has proved time and time again of its myopic vision as far as protecting natural resources is concerned. The vision 2025 boasts of larger than life plans of an integrated energy plan, improving built infrastructure, efficient use of indigenous resources, institutional reforms and good governance. Sadly, the only tangible outcome of this vision 2025 has been a parliament building running on solar energy.
First we enter the most significant climate negotiations in the decade without any targets or vision for the future, presenting an image of a country that fails to acknowledge the devastating consequences of global warming, even though we bear the brunt every year. Glacier Lake Outburst Floods (GLOF) are more frequent by the year, ice caps are melting at an alarming rate, droughts are killing innocent children by the hundreds, and yet we are unable to make the concede that these seemingly random events are connected in the larger net of mismanaged resources and climate change. We continue on the path to self-destruction by clearing trees to build roads, initiating power projects that run on coal and import billions of dollars worth fossil fuels which the world is trying to reduce its dependency on.
Until and unless the government accepts that incidences like the water crisis in Gwadar, the droughts and famine in Thar and flash floods in Chitral are all intricately linked, a solution to these problems cannot be sought. It is high time that the government adopts a holistic understanding of the environment, learns to manage effectively the natural resources it has to offer, and protects the people from the wrath of frequenting natural disasters, that should no longer be blamed on nature.