Climate change adaptation in the Indus ecoregion: a micro-econometric study of the determinants, impact and cost effectiveness of adaptation strategies
The WWF-Pakistan released its report on climate change titled Climate Change Adaptation in the Indus Ecoregion: A Micro-Econometric Study of the Determinants, Impact and Cost Effectiveness of Adaptation Strategies. The report, produced in collaboration with the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), highlights the impact of climate change on Pakistan’s agriculture and food security. One of the key findings of the study is that the climate change will have a large impact on cost of agricultural productivity in the country. In particular, by 2040 assuming a 0.5 degrees Celsius increase in average nationwide temperature, 8-10 percent loss is expected across all crops corresponding to Rs30,000 per acre. The report addresses the optimal public policy response to climate change and stresses methods that can help to improve crop resilience to temperature and rainfall variations. Its findings also suggest that productivity of cotton and wheat crops (but not rice) can increase by up to 49-52 percent if five on-farm adaptation measures are carried out. Such gains are possible for those farmers who are currently not applying these measures, approximately half of all farmers in Sindh and Punjab.