Climate Justice.

Byline: Mian Rauf

'Nature is angry: and we fool ourselves if we think we can fool nature because nature always strikes back and around the world; nature is striking back with fury.' These are some interesting lines, I have extracted from the speech of the UNO Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Since decades, much has been written and discussed the global climate change. This issue lies at the heart of the world's multiple problems. It is becoming a significant source of concern for the entire world community over time. Scientific researches in different parts of the world bear testimony to the fact that the world is on the verge of collapse through deforestation, floods, searing heat waves, droughts and diseases due to change in earth's temperature. Since 1970 till to date, the world has been ravished by pollution, poverty, and rising temperature of the globe fuelled by greenhouse gases.

Unfortunately, the governments in different countries have not paid any heed towards this gruesome issue that poses existential threats to human civilization. It is pertinent to mention here that Pakistan is also not immune from the side effects of climate change. It is ranked 7th most vulnerable country to climate change according to the data compiled by Germanwatch in its latest Global Climate Risk Index 2018.

There are many factors which are thought to be the main contributors to climate change. One of them is greenhouse gases. These gases are very efficient in trapping heat into the atmosphere. Every country depends on fossil fuels such as oil, coal and natural gas for the fulfilment of its energy needs. With the industrial revolution, the emission of greenhouse gases has increased dramatically, mostly from the burning of fossil fuels for energy, agriculture, industrial process and transportation. Global carbon emissions from fossil fuels are 9.795 gigatonnes which constitute 72% of the emitted greenhouse gases. Technological advancement, in many parts of the world, has given rise to environmental degradation. We have seen severe depletion of the ozone layer over Antarctica because of chemical conditions that exist there. On account of climate change, Pakistan has seen environmental disaster leads to melting glacier flows into the river and lakes. In June 2015, approximately 1200 people died of heat-related illness in Karachi. Pakistan's 2nd largest city, Lahore, has been plagued by a heavy blanket of smog in recent years.

Secondly, the growing...