Climate Change In Pakistan Research Articles

Media Influence on Climate Change Discourse in Pakistan

This study delves into the examination of public perceptions concerning the influence of media on the discourse surrounding climate change in Pakistan. By scrutinizing the role of media in shaping social, political, biological, and economic narratives related to the climate crisis, this research aims to provide insights into the dynamic interaction between media representations and public understanding of environmental issues. Through comprehensive analysis, the study seeks to uncover the complexities of how media portrayal influences public perceptions and responses to climate change in the Pakistani context. The project objectives were how information on climate change is communicated and received across varied groups, with a focus on understanding the influence of media outlets such as television, radio, and internet platforms. For this purpose, it affects the level of climate change awareness in different places. The study emphasizes the significance of developing personalized communication techniques for different locations in order to successfully address the particular difficulties that each community faces. It also looks at the media's role in promoting sustainable practices and instilling a feeling of environmental responsibility in the public. The study emphasizes the importance of improved coordination across media outlets, government agencies, and environmental organizations in order to improve the accuracy and reach of climate change information. Understanding the impact of the media on rural and urban people is critical for establishing targeted interventions that contribute to a more informed and environmentally conscious society in Pakistan, however, the outcome of the study shows that the majority of the respondents are well aware of the environmental and climate change issues but majority of them do not practice the same precautions.

Reporting Climate Change: Factors Affecting Media Coverage of Climate Change in Pakistan

Climate change is posing challenges to every nation. Its effects are already being witnessed in different parts of the world. Extreme weather conditions and other climate-related disasters have forced world leaders to look for possible solutions. Media is of great assistance in this regard. It can not only highlight the issue but create awareness among people. Among the nations most at risk from global warming, Pakistan comes in at 8th position. However, its media has been witnessed to be ignorant towards the crucial issue. Therefore, this study focuses on the factors affecting Pakistani media coverage of climate change. A qualitative approach was used in the form of interviews from a defined sample of the population comprising ten climate journalists in Pakistan. The findings of the study suggest that agenda setting, economic interest, political inclination, corporate interest and media policy are among the top factors that influence the reporting of climate change in Pakitsan’s mainstream media.

Climate change impacts: exploring the rising climate-security nexus in Pakistan

This research aims to bring to the fore the climate security nexus in Pakistan. According to this study, the anthropogenic climate change in Pakistan has been a probable cause of internal migrations that have played an important role in exacerbating the existing conflicts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Sindh, and Balochistan provinces. The climate security nexus in Pakistan is established through a deductive approach using the lens of environmental security and political ecology. The study plays a crucial role in shaping Pakistani policy-making circles, providing insights into climate change mitigation, conflict-sensitive adaptation, and societal resilience. The study adopts an exploratory approach using primary and secondary data sources with semi-structured interviews and multidisciplinary assessment to analyse the issue comprehensively and provide accurate findings. The study concludes that the anthropogenic climate change-induced internal migration exacerbating armed conflict in the Pakistani regions of KP and Balochistan has the potential to cause significant economic losses in the future. It argues that the migration triggered by resource scarcity due to climate change can lead to armed conflict and provide fertile grounds for militant groups to gain strength.

Climate Displacement in Pakistan: (under) reported Frame in Media Discourse on Climate Change in Pakistan

Climate disruption has brought irreversible damage to the world. Since global communities are being widely affected by these changes, masses of the populations are facing climate induced displacement. Such displacements involve internal as well as cross border migration. Climate change is marginalized issue in the hand of media in Pakistan, making climate induced displacement doubly underreported. This study focuses on the media coverage of climate change displacement in Pakistani media discourse. The key research objectives include; to find frequency of climate related news during flood coverage in Pakistan, to assess the nature of themes covered while reporting flood related news during defined period of time and to find climate change induced displacement in media coverage of floods in Pakistan. This study uses content analysis as a research method. Time frame focused in the current study involves 15th June 2022 to 15th September 2022, when flood hit major part of Pakistan. Findings of the study reveal that during defined period of time climate change induced displacement remained under reported in Pakistani newspapers (Dawn, The Nation and The Express Tribune). Moreover, while covering irregular weather events pertaining to climate change, main focus remained on damage, government criticism and aid related process.

Spatiotemporal distribution and population trends of Sindh ibex (Capra aegagrus blythii) in Balochistan during 2019–2022

The increased pressures generated by human activities in form of climate change and habitat fragmentation have caused serious threats for Sindh ibex (Capra aegagrus blythii). Balochistan, recognized as one of the most vulnerable regions to climate change in Pakistan, has limited data on the distribution and population status of this species. To address this gap, our study aims to assess the spatial and temporal distribution and population trend of Sindh ibex in the Khuzdar and Lasbela districts of Balochistan. The study covered an area of approximately 45,123.97 km2. It involved a double-observer survey at ten sites from 2019 to 2022, using the BBRecapture package in the R programming language to estimate ibex population trend and dispersion. We provided a comprehensive update of the species geographic range, along with estimates of its current abundance and population trends. Over the course of four years, the ibex population fluctuated. The ibexes detected dropped from 720 (male to female ratio 1:1.21) and 710 (male to female ratio 1:1.08) in 2019 and 2020, respectively, to 550 (male to female ratio 1:1.35) and 548 (male to female ratio 1:1.09). Overall, this study provides valuable insights into the population trends, gender ratios, habitat preferences, and density of Sindh ibex in Balochistan over the four-year period. These findings contribute significantly to the baseline data on the species ecology and will further help in the conservation of these species at local scale.

Bamboo houses mitigate the effects of climate change in Pakistan

Bamboo houses mitigate the effects of climate change in Pakistan

Promoting pro-environmental behavior among one belt one road firms' employees through the lens of green human resource practices.

The realization of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has opened up new horizons for economic development along with threats to climate change in Pakistan. It has intended to change the social and corporate landscape, which necessitates investigation regarding corporate green HRM practices and employee behaviors of the firms involved. This study developed a theoretical framework and investigated the mediating impact of pro-environmental psychological climate (PEPC) between green human resource management (GHRM) and pro-environmental behavior (PEB) of the employees working under CPEC in Pakistan. Therefore, the core intent lies in recognizing those aspects of manipulating the pro-environmental behavior of the employees of the firms involved. Based on the simple random sampling technique, data was collected from 388 employees using a quantitative approach. SmartPLS was used to analyze the data. The findings suggest that GHRM practices have an impact on organizations' pro-environmental psychological climate and employees' pro-environmental behavior. Furthermore, the pro-environmental psychological climate encourages employees to engage in environmentally friendly behaviors within Pakistani organizations working under CPEC. GHRM has proved to be a vital instrument for attaining organizational sustainability and pro-environmental behavior. The original study results are particularly valuable for employees of the firms working under CPEC as they motivate them to engage in more sustainability solutions. The study findings add to the body of GHRM practices and strategic management, and thus policymakers can better postulate, align, and exercise GHRM practices.

Social media reporting on agricultural adaptation to climate change in Pakistan: Measures and implications for sustainability

The agricultural sector is the backbone and single-largest sector of the Pakistani economy. Pakistan's agricultural productivity is suffering due to climate change. The study aimed at finding how social media reporting can change patterns of attitudes among farmers to cope with sudden weather changes. A correlation-experimental research design was used to find the relationships and effects of climate change on agriculture in Punjab (Pakistan) and the mediating effect of social media reporting. A purposive sampling technique was used to collect samples from 120 male farmers. Online surveys, with the help of Google Docs, were used to collect participants' responses about the type of behavior they used to adopt when getting information about climate change through social media. After determining their reliability and validity through piloting, two self-constructed questionnaires were used: (i) Measuring Farmers' Behavior Influenced by Social Media Reporting of Climate Change and (ii) Effects of Social Media Reporting of Climate Change on Agriculture. Data were analyzed using SPSS-21, and correlation analysis was done to find out the relationship between social media reporting and farmers' behavior. Linear regression was used to measure the functional relationship between social media reporting about climate change and farmers' attitudes towards adopting precautions to increase annual yield. The coefficient of social media reporting was positively and significantly related to farmers' attitudes towards the selection of crops, land management, and water storage. Based on the findings, the social media reports significantly predicted patterns of farmers' behavior towards the adaptation of advanced measures to select crops, reduce pest attacks, manage land, and store water.

Impact of Climate Change on Pakistan and Proposed Solutions: Evidence from Literature

The current research examines the impact of climate change on Pakistan (social, economic & environmental) and proposed solutions from existing literature. For this purpose, the qualitative research design was adopted, and literature has been taken from the last ten years' papers, articles, reports, and books. However, for the analysis of impacts, the most recent year-2023 literature has been taken from international journals. The result was divided into a total of four themes: a) social, b) economic, c) environmental impacts, and d) mitigation strategies for climate change in Pakistan. Results and findings showed that climate change has negatively affected the social, economic, and environmental well-being of the people of Pakistan, especially, people who are associated with agriculture and livestock. Frequent droughts, urban flooding, land-sliding, cyclones, earth-quick, etc., not only disturb social life but also have several negative economic implications such as decreases the per capita income, loss of Gross Domestic Products (GDP) and food security and safety. Though, Pakistan, being a developing country, has signed many agreements with international organizations like United Nations (UN), World Bank (WB), etc to overcome the negative effects of climate change. Despite strategies and efforts, still Pakistan has failed to achieve its targets due to a lack of funds, political disinterest, lack of awareness among common people about climate change, and administrative inefficiencies as well. The political and administrative seriousness about climate change can make the possible outcomes to overcome the inverse implications of climate change in Pakistan.

Economic empowerment of women through climate change mitigation

This study examines the gendered component of vulnerability to climate change in Pakistan, a highly vulnerable country. Through interviews conducted in different provinces and regions, the research explores how gender influences climate change sensitivity, impacts on women, and the effectiveness of adaptation measures. The results show significant health disparities between men and women, with women suffering more from heatwaves, cold snaps, and droughts. Livestock sectors face challenges such as water and pasture scarcity, affecting rural women's livelihoods. In agriculture, women encounter economic hardships, limited resources, and social barriers, amplifying climate change's adverse effects on their livelihoods. Food and water scarcity pose critical concerns, leading to malnutrition and health risks for women. In rural areas, energy crises force women to rely on harmful fuel sources, impacting their respiratory health, while urban settings restrict women's access to essential services. The study emphasizes the need for gender-responsive policies and women's participation in climate decision-making processes to build resilient communities. Policy implications include adaptation measures, women's inclusion, investment in rural livelihood support, disaster management, and promoting gender equality in climate governance. Raising awareness and education about climate change's gendered impacts is crucial for fostering resilience.

Spatiotemporal Precipitation Trends and Associated Large-Scale Teleconnections in Northern Pakistan

The effects of climate change are unparalleled in magnitude, ranging from changing weather patterns that endanger food production to increasing sea levels that increase the likelihood of catastrophic flooding. Therefore, determining the extent of such variations on regional and local scales is imperative. We used monthly precipitation data from 25 meteorological stations in northern Pakistan (NP) to document the observed changes in seasonal and annual precipitation. The station density in the NP is small and unevenly distributed; therefore, ERA-5 reanalysis data were used to supplement the observed dataset to assess the spatial trends in NP. The non-parametric Mann–Kendall (MK), Sen’s Slope estimator (SSE), and Sequential Mann–Kendall (SQMK) tests were performed to assess the trends. In addition, the wavelet analysis technique was used to determine the association of precipitation with various oceanic indices from 1960 to 2016. Results indicate that maximum precipitation was shown in the annual and summer seasons. In NP, annual, winter, spring, and summer precipitation declined, while an increase in autumn was observed at a rate of 0.43 mm/decade between 1989 and 2016. The spatial trends for observed and ERA-5 reanalysis datasets were almost similar in winter, spring, and autumn; however, some disagreement was observed in both datasets in the summer and annual precipitation trends in NP during 1960–2016. Between 1989 and 2016, summer and annual precipitation increased significantly in Region III. However, seasonal and annual precipitation decreased in NP between 1960 and 2016. Moreover, there were no prominent trends in annual precipitation until the mid-1980s, but an apparent increase from 1985 onwards. Annual precipitation increased in all elevations except at the 500–1000 m zone. The ENSO (El Niño–Southern Oscillation) shared notable interannual coherences among all indices above 16–64 months. Inter-decadal coherence with the ENSO, AO (Arctic Oscillation), and PDO (Pacific Decadal Oscillation) in NP for 128 months and above. Generally, AO, AMO (Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation), and NAO (North Atlantic Oscillation) exhibited less coherence with precipitation in NP. The regression of seasonal and annual precipitation revealed that winter and spring precipitation levels had higher linear regression with the AO and ENSO, respectively, while both the AO and ENSO also dominated at the annual scale. Similarly, the IOD and PDO indices had a higher influence in summer precipitation. The findings may help water resource managers and climate researchers develop a contingency plan for better water resource management policies in the face of changing climate change in Pakistan, particularly in NP.

Year-round dengue fever in Pakistan, highlighting the surge amidst ongoing flood havoc and the COVID-19 pandemic: a comprehensive review.

Dengue fever (DF) is an arthropod-borne viral infection caused by four serotypes of dengue virus (DENV 1-4) transmitted to the host by the vector mosquito Aedes, which causes fever, vomiting, headache, joint pain, muscle pain, and a distinctive itching and skin rash, ultimately leading to dengue hemorrhagic fever and dengue shock syndrome. The first case of DF in Pakistan was documented in 1994, but outbreak patterns began in 2005. As of 20 August 2022, Pakistan has 875 confirmed cases, raising alarming concerns. Misdiagnosis due to mutual symptoms, lack of an effective vaccine, the weakened and overburdened health system of Pakistan, irrational urbanization, climate change in Pakistan, insufficient waste management system, and a lack of awareness are the significant challenges Pakistan faces and result in recurrent dengue outbreaks every year. The recent flood in Pakistan has caused massive destruction, and stagnant dirty water has facilitated mosquito breeding. Sanitization and spraying, proper waste management, an adequate and advanced diagnostic system, control of population size, public awareness, and promotion of medical research and global collaboration, especially amidst flood devastation, are recommended to combat this deadly infection in Pakistan. This article aims to comprehensively review the year-round DF in Pakistan, highlighting the surge amidst ongoing flood havoc and the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.

Global Warming in Pakistan and Its Impact on Public Health as Viewed Through a Health Equity Lens.

Pakistan is extremely vulnerable to the negative impacts of climate change. The recent monsoon season caused widespread, deadly flooding, affecting 15% of the total population when extreme heat waves were followed by the worst rains and floods in the country's history. But Pakistan was not the cause of its own misfortune. The atmospheric buildup of carbon dioxide (CO2) is the greatest contributor to climate change. If we look at the increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, we find that Pakistan is, like all developing nations, essentially a non-contributor of the problem, contributing considerably less than 1% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Moreover, although significant factors exacerbating the effects of climate change in Pakistan include an inadequate sewage system, air pollution from industrial waste, and deforestation, the country could not afford to proactively fix these, nor prepare for flooding and heavy rains. It lacks the funding for climate resilience efforts. As a result, Pakistan is suffering from a high prevalence of poor health outcomes. Children, the elderly, women, and the homeless, especially those living with poverty and disease, are at a high risk of morbidity and mortality. Since mitigating the devastating effects of climate change will continue to be an ongoing challenge for Pakistan, it urgently needs financial investment so that it can build climate-resilient infrastructures and institute mechanisms to deal with global warming's worst effects. Industrialized nations are responsible for global warming, and they must take responsibility for fighting global warming by helping developing countries cultivate greater public health emergency preparedness.

INVESTIGATING CLIMATE CHANGE PERCEPTION AND AWARENESS LEVELS AMONG UNIVERSITY SCHOLARS OF PAKISTAN

— The increasing people’s awareness on the environmental changes through the education is an imperative measure to influence inhabitants at all levels in the society to play a chief role in extenuating and adapting to the environmental change. Therefore, it is supreme to assess the university scholars’ level of awareness and the perception about climate change since it is prone to influence how the university level scholars and instructors conduct information transfer in their classroom. The study in hand is primarily designed to evaluate perception and awareness level about climate change among university scholars from main universities of Pakistan. According to the findings of the study television access, mobile phone access, environmental / agricultural magazine access, newspaper are affecting significantly in accelerating the scholar’s awareness about climate change whereas on the other hand radio access and computer / internet access was affecting insignificantly. Potential problems associated with climate change in Pakistan are lacking funds for research on climate change, lack of government policies for this pertaining issue, no environment science courses offered in most of universities, lack of media role and lack of seminars and conferences on this issue. The print and electronic media should raise campaign to aware of the people about the climate change and universities should start degrees regarding environment sciences as well as on climate change. So, in this way university scholars and media can play an imperative role for the betterment of the environment.

Politics triumphs: a topic modeling approach of analyzing news media coverage of climate change in Pakistan

News media is one of the main sources of information for many people around the world on climate change. It does not only increase awareness among the public but also have the potential to sensitize people toward climate change impacts. Till date, few studies focus on media coverage of climate change in the low-income countries such as Pakistan which is among the top ten countries impacted by global warming. This study used Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic modeling and analyzed 7,655 climate change-related news articles published between 2010 and 2021 in three Pakistani English newspapers. Our results suggest that climate change coverage in Pakistan has substantially increased over the years, however, the focus has generally been on "climate politics'', "climate governance and policy'', and "climate change and society''. Evolution of different themes and its potential implications on people are discussed.

Environmental Policy Analysis of Pakistan: A Theoretical Perspective

Climate change has challenged environmental security in Pakistan. It has intensified weather conditions. Climate variations are affecting every sector of Pakistan. It is need of the hour to pursue the securitization of environment in Pakistan at national security policy level. The security discourse of Pakistan should prioritize environmental security and issue of climate change which has ever been ignored being concern of low politics. Although previous Governments of Pakistan has made national policies for protection of environment, but still environment holds immense vulnerabilities not only for citizens but also for livestock, agriculture, and overall food web of the state due to worsening climate change. There is a dire need to focus and prioritize the proper mitigation and adaptation measure of climate change in Pakistan to survive predicted calamities in coming years.

Towards Achieving 100% Renewable Energy Supply for Sustainable Climate Change in Pakistan

Fossil fuel-based energy systems are mostly used for supplying energy that creates negative impacts on the environment, so in this study, the development of a 100% renewable energy system is evaluated for Pakistan for sustainable climate change. This study modeled three scenarios, namely, ongoing (ONG), energy saving policy (ESP), and green energy policy (GEP) scenarios using low emission analysis platform (LEAP) software for the study period 2022 to 2050 for Pakistan. The results revealed that a 100% renewable energy supply could be achieved through the GEP scenario. Model results show that the share of renewable sources in the total energy mix is 1117.08 TWh and non-renewable sources contribute only 18.12 TWh to meet the energy demand of 966.05 TWh until 2050. Non-renewable production leads to the generation of 8.85 million metric tons of carbon emissions, which is too low compared with the 135.47 million metric tons under the ONG scenario. The USD 1482.46 billion investment cost required for adding renewable energy capacity until 2050 is too high as compared with the USD 46.80 billion under the ONG scenario. Energy demand and production requirements are reduced by 34.18% under the ESP scenario until 2050. This approach can also be applicable to the majority of nations worldwide.

BUILDING CODES IN RURAL AREAS OF PAKISTAN

Building codes are an established strategy for ensuring safe and hygienic construction. These codes' development, adoption by the local councils, enforcement, and cyclic improvement are all substantial in a resilient built environment. Illustriously, the literature review indicates lacunas in building codes in Pakistan, especially in rural areas. The natural disasters and evident climate change in Pakistan are significant threats to Pakistan's built environment. The primary aim of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of building codes, the challenges faced by building codes, and the venues for improvement for code compliance in rural areas of Pakistan. A qualitative approach was adopted by developing a survey instrument targeting the randomly selected built environment professionals. The responses were analyzed using SPSS V24 for reliability and triangulation of the observed variables and leading constructs. The study's findings demonstrate that the development of building codes, their adoption and enforcement by the local councils, and monitoring need improvement. Furthermore, the study findings suggest that the inclusivity of architects, planners, and code officials in the development of building codes has the ability to bring resilience to the built environment in rural areas of Pakistan.

Impact of climate change shocks on economic growth: A new insight from non-linear analysis

Despite the fact that Pakistan’s contribution to GHG emissions is low (0.8%) when compared to other countries but it is one of the hardest hit by climate change. The present study is an attempt to identify the impact of climate change on economic growth. The non-linear autoregressive distributional lag (NARDL) technique is used to estimate the asymmetric effect of climate change on the economic growth of Pakistan. Annual data covering the years 1980–2021 are used for empirical analysis. It is noteworthy to reiterate that CO2 emissions and mean temperature pose asymmetrical results concerning economic growth, both in the long-run and short-run. CO2_POS and CO2_NEG have a negative impact on economic growth, whereas MEANT_POS has a positive impact on economic growth and MEANT_NEG has a negative impact. Precipitation has a positive and significant long-term influence on economic growth. Research findings indicate that comprehensive mitigation policies at the nationwide and worldwide levels are required to limit human-caused climate change in Pakistan. At national level, tree planting projects and safeguard greenery at all costs while at international level, policies needed for adoption of mitigation strategies to control climate change.

The Effects of Osmosis and Thermo-Priming on Salinity Stress Tolerance in Vigna radiata L.

A plant’s response to osmotic stress is a complex phenomenon that causes many abnormal symptoms due to limitations in growth and development or even the loss of yield. The current research aimed to analyze the agronomical, physiological, and biochemical mechanisms accompanying the acquisition of salt resistance in the Vigna radiata L. variety ‘Ramzan’ using seed osmo- and thermopriming in the presence of PEG-4000 and 4 °C under induced salinity stresses of 100 and 150 mM NaCl. Seeds were collected from CCRI, Nowshera, and sowing was undertaken in triplicate at the Department of Botany, Peshawar University, during the 2018–2019 growing season. Rhizospheric soil pH (6.0), E.C (2.41 ds/m), field capacity, and moisture content level were estimated in the present study. We observed from the estimated results that the agronomic characteristics, i.e., shoot fresh weight and shoot dry weight in T9 (4oC + 150 mM NaCl), root fresh weight and root dry weight in T4 (PEG + 100 mM NaCl), shoot moisture content in T5 (PEG + 100 mM NaCl), and root moisture content in T6 (PEG + 150 mM NaCl) were the highest, followed by the lowest in T1 (both shoot and root fresh weights) and T2 (shoot and root dry weights). Similarly, the shoot moisture content was the maximum in T5 and the minimum in T6, and root moisture was the highest in T6. We observed from the estimated results that agronomical parameters including dry masses (T4, T6, T4), leaf area index, germination index, leaf area, total biomass, seed vigor index under treatment T9, and relative water content and water use efficiency during T5 and T6 were the highest. Plant physiological traits such as proline, SOD enhanced by T1, carotenoids in treatment T2, and chlorophyll and protein levels were the highest under treatment T4, whereas sugar and POD were highest under treatments T7 and T8. The principal component analysis enclosed 63.75% of the total variation among all biological components. These estimated results confirmed the positive resistance by Vigna radiata during osmopriming (PEG) and thermopriming (4 °C) on most of the features with great tolerance under a low-saline treatment such as T4 (PEG), T5 (PEG + 100 mM NaCl), T7 (4 °C), and T8 (4 °C + 100 mM NaCl), while it was susceptible in the case of T6 (PEG + 150 mM NaCl) and T9 (4 °C + 150 mM NaCl) to high salt application. We found that the constraining impact of several priming techniques improved low salinity, which was regarded as economically inexpensive and initiated numerous metabolic processes in plants, hence decreasing germination time. The current study will have major applications for combatting the salinity problem induced by climate change in Pakistan.