Former prime minister and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani delivered a keynote address at the International Human Rights Commission's (IHRC) Africa Climate Summit 2023's side event.
Gillani also holds the position of co-chairman at the International Human Rights Commission.
The former premier addressed the event that was centered around the vital theme of "The Influence of Human Rights on Climate Financing, Mitigation, and Adaptation in Africa."
The event was held in Nairobi, Kenya, and former PM Gillani participated in it remotely via video conference.
Climate change is the result of long-term shifts in weather patterns and global temperatures primarily caused by man-made activities (anthropogenic activities). These shifts bring variability to the weather patterns, due to which untimely precipitation, intense heat waves, and severe droughts have become the new normal. Its threats are felt everywhere in the form of droughts, floods, heat waves, glacier melting, and torrential rains. Consequently, the changes affect everyone, irrespective of individual contributions to the emissions of greenhouse gases. As it is a man-made calamity, its effects can only be mitigated by collective human efforts.
Pakistan's contribution to GHG emissions is 0.8 percent, but it is the fifth most vulnerable country to climatic impacts. This year, in Pakistan, the months of March and April were recorded as the hottest after 60 years while July has been recorded as the wettest after 62 years. A sudden increase in the temperature badly affected wheat, millet, and mango production in Pakistan. This year, Britain recorded its highest temperature and exceptional heat. The current floods in Pakistan are also due to the variability in weather patterns.
The Global Climate Risk Index has ranked Pakistan, Haiti, Nepal, and Myanmar as severely impacted by climate change. Glaciers in the Himalayas and climatic variability in the mountains of the Hindu Kush could prove catastrophic for Afghanistan, Bhutan, Bangladesh, China, India, Pakistan, and Nepal.
Extreme weather in less developed countries causes climate migrants and refugees, which is an emerging source of conflict on multiple levels. It causes disruption in the local and national supply chains, which raises the cost of living in the affected areas. According to the latest reports, more than 3000 km of roads and 129 bridges have been destroyed in Pakistan, which creates a massive disruption in the supply chain.