- The South Asian nation is among the top ten countries most vulnerable to climate change
- Pakistan only emits one percent of global greenhouse gases every year
ISLAMABAD: Thousands of Pakistanis gathered across the country on Friday to join the worldwide protest demanding action against climate change ahead of a United Nations summit on the subject next week.
Students, civil society activists, officials and people belonging to other walks of life enthusiastically participated in the event.
“Unlike the protesters abroad, we are calling our intervention a march, not a strike, since we are victims of climate change despite our negligible emissions,” Saleem Sheikh, deputy media director at the climate change ministry, told Arab News while referring to the internationally used phrase, global climate strike, for the day of protest.
Tens of thousands of people in other parts of the world poured into the streets of their countries to express concern about the global climate change challenge.
Sheikh said that more than 2,500 events had been planned in 117 countries, including Pakistan, on September 20.
According to officials, Pakistan emits less than one percent of the total annual global greenhouse gases, though it still remains in the top ten countries most vulnerable to climate change.
“Global warming is already causing more droughts, floods, severe storms, wildfires and melting ice across the planet,” Sheikh said, adding that the Earth’s average temperature had gone up by one degree and could continue to go beyond that point unless carbon emissions were drastically reduced.
Pakistan’s Minister of State for Climate Change Zartaj Gul said in a video message that the country was facing the adverse impact of climate change.
Humayun Khan, who works with the Climate Change Center of the University of Agriculture Peshawar, participated in the march in his city. He told Arab News it was imperative to plant saplings on an emergency basis throughout Pakistan to protect the environment and avoid negative impact of changing weather patterns.
“Various species of saplings need to be planted in order to minimize the worst effects of climate change,” he noted.