Global Warming and Floods in Pakistan

The mega disaster of recent flood across the three provinces of Pakistan in July 2011 has ruined the lives of over 5 million people. The frequency of floods and horrible consequences need an immediate attention of Pakistan’s government. Among the several logical reasons; two vital aspects of floods in Pakistan are not only noticeable but need immediate attention of decision makers. In this regard the first and foremost need of Pakistan is water reservoirs. We need more dams in Pakistan to save the water for agriculture, power and living needs. Whereas the second phenomenon of Global Warming is not only Pakistan’s dilemma but it’s a core concern across the globe.

Pakistan is been through the worst floods intervals in its history since 2010. The United Nations has rated the floods in Pakistan as the greatest humanitarian crisis in recent history with more people affected than the South-East Asian tsunami in 2004 and the earthquakes in Kashmir in 2005 and Haiti in 2010. Even the loss of human life, animals, crops and destruction of houses and roads are high in comparison to the Cyclone Katrina 2005, India Ocean Tsunami 2004 and Cyclone Nargis 2008. The abnormal rains in Pakistan has resulted the massive floods of 2010 and 2011. These floods were worst ever in living memories of the people of entire region. Pakistan is one of the five South Asian countries with the highest annual average number of people physically exposed to floods. Punjab and Sindh provinces have particularly effected badly by these floods. Historically, floods of 1950, 1973, 1976,1988,1992,1997 and particularly recent ones have caused huge human and financial losses.

The world is facing an environmental crisis that is causing floods in Pakistan, wildfires in Russia and landslides in China. It is evident that global warming predictions are correct. Global warming is one reason for the rare spate of recent weather extremes. Global warming is causing damage to Pakistan’s environment. Many factors are contributing to climate change such as use of fossil fuel, rapid industrialization, population growth and deforestation. "We will always have climate extremes. But it looks like climate change is exacerbating the intensity of the extremes," said Omar Baddour, chief of climate data management applications at WMO headquarters in Geneva.

Dams may be helpful to minimise the flood chances. The dams can also be helpful in irrigation and production of electricity. Basically, dams are built to harness the river water so that it can be utilised for other useful motives. The US state of California, which is 70% the size of Pakistan, has more than 1400 federal and state jurisdictional dams in California. India has about 4710 completed large dams and another 390 are under construction.

We need to build more dams to enhance our water storage capacity. This will enable us to better deal with the floods and avoid its shattering impact. It was high time for Pakistan to invest in dams and construct large reservoirs such as Kala Bagh Dam”. He also demanded the need of more dams in Pakistan when 2 years ago I conduct his interview for my documentary “Water and Life”. Kala Bagh Dam project which will control the floods and will provide some other advantage of providing more irrigation water and hydro-electricity. Kalabagh dam is a major controversy in Pakistan amongst provinces. Unfortunately except Punjab and Baluchistan the other two provinces are not agreed on KalaBagh dam project. The Sindh province has reservations that in case of KalaBagh dam’s construction their percentage of water will be blocked in Punjab’s dam. While KPK (Khayber Pakhtunkha) province political parties oppose the dam plan using it as political stunt with a non-serious justification of drowning their vital land in dam’s reserve water.

Pakistan needs a good number of small and large dams. Through proper consensus and political will; government should practically take further steps. The government must escape of the habit of using natural calamities to extract aid from the international community. It must know that it is going to face even worse flooding in years to come, and should prepare well in time for upcoming threats. Millions of Pakistanis have lost everything: homes, possessions, jobs. But they have not yet lost hopes for their better future. The rest of the world can learn from their deep stoicism and inner courage.