ISLAMABAD-Experts at a high-level roundtable called upon Thursday, the government and policymakers to come up with an inclusive and holistic approach to meet the exacerbating climate crisis through anticipatory adaptation.
The roundtable titled “Foresight and Futures Thinking for Anticipatory Adaptation in Pakistan” was organized by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) in collaboration with the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) to address how various stakeholders are thinking of future risks, and how these risks could be integrated into existing plans and policies.
In his opening remarks, Dr Babar Shahbaz, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Agricultural Extension Education and Rural Development, set the ground for the participants to deliberate on pertinent issues precisely. To become future-fit, he said, it is important to understand future risks and take anticipatory actions. Amina Maharjan, Senior Specialist Livelihoods and Migration, ICIMOD briefed the participants on the foresight and future thinking for anticipatory adaptation in the region, methods to explore future pathways in terms of foresight, scenario development, development of efficient strategies and understanding foresight beyond predictions.
Sultan Mehmood, the World Food Programme (WFP) representative, mentioned the climate adaptation-related interventions being implemented through the WFP collaboration, particularly the Living Indus Initiative.
Muhammad Farooq, Senior Joint Secretary, Ministry of Climate Change and Environmental Coordination, briefed the roundtable about the steps taken by the Ministry in the aftermath of the rising magnitude of climate catastrophes.
Farooq also pointed out lacunas in existing strategies particularly no linkage between adaptation and NDCs which has been done by developed countries.
Dr Shafqat Munir, Deputy Executive Director, SDPI informed the forum that amid discourse on anticipatory approaches, it is required to have systems capable to workout disaster risk reduction and climate change anticipatory adaptation and foresight models.
United Nations Environment Programme representative Arshad Samad Khan presented a brief view of climate vulnerability of the region and mentioned glacial melt in the north and sea level rise at the coasts in the south among the major climate crises faced by the country. Obaidur Rehman Zia from SDPI proposed the roundtable to shift from a deterministic to a probabilistic approach.
Shameen Raza, UNDP-Pakistan briefed the forum about the success of the GLOF project that significantly reduced losses of human lives and infrastructure in the glacial lake outburst flood-prone areas.
A representative from the PARC briefed the roundtable that there was a need to review the hotspots of the country facing a water shortage crisis and those regions’ contribution to the GDP through their agriculture output also needed to be studied for better strategies.
A representative from the Zarai Taraqiati Bank noted that there are green climate finance solutions but farmers are mostly unaware of such initiatives.
He demanded that the quarters concerned share the most modern research and such scientific solutions in lucid and clear language.
Dr Farrukh Rashid from the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) informed the participants about the measures taken by the PMD to strengthen its hydrometeorological infrastructure across the country.