Climate and development outlook: Pakistan
Pakistan is among the lowest emitters of greenhouse gases in the world, but ranks among the highest in terms of vulnerability to climate change. Its high dependency on the Indus River system makes it particularly vulnerable to the increasing rate of glacial melt and erratic monsoon patterns. The 2010 floods affected 20 million people and caused extensive damage to infrastructure, services and livelihoods. This was repeated to a lesser extent in 2011, 2013, 2014 and 2015. Major disasters such as these have spurred government interest in implementing disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation measures. National and Provincial Disaster Management Authorities have been set up, in addition to the federal Ministry of Climate Change. The National Climate Change Policy was approved in 2012. Since 2013, there has been a greater emphasis at the national level on climate change mitigation, with the Ministry of Climate Change actively pursuing the development of Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) across the energy, transport and waste sectors. CDKN’s goal in Pakistan is to achieve proactive and inclusive policy action on low-carbon and climate-resilient development that reduces long-term risk from climate change to human security and economic growth in the country.