There is now a unified consensus among the global
scientific community that the global climate has been changing since the
beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the mid-nineteenth century as a
consequence of rapidly increasing concentrations of GHGs (Green House Gases) in
the atmosphere. According to the IPCC Third Assessment Report, the global
surface temperature, has, within the last century, increased by 0.6°C and,
under various climate scenarios, is projected to increase by 1.4°C to 5.8°C
over the period 1990-2100. The adverse impacts of climate change will occur in
both the developed and the developing countries alike. But the hardest hit will
be the developing countries due to their mostly agrarian economies, which makes
them very climate sensitive, and low technological and financial capacity to
counter the adverse impacts. Pakistan, like most other South Asian developing
countries, will thus be seriously affected by the adverse impacts of climate
change.
Such
a situation thus called for the systematic assessments of the past as well the
projected future climate changes and studying their impacts on different
socio-economic sectors in various parts of Pakistan using the state-of-the-art
techniques and models. These assessments could then provide insight into how
vulnerable and resilient, various human, biological and natural systems may be
in the future. The need for improved information on such changes, particularly
at regional and local scales is one of the highest priorities for national
planners and policy makers.
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