Droughts and floods - the daunting impacts of climate change.

Byline: LARAIB EHTASHAM

There are different schools of thought regarding climate change. One of them believes that such change is solely a natural process, and it has nothing to do with human influence. On the other hand, the second school of thought considers climate change as the direct consequence of anthropogenic activities. Nevertheless, the most rational approach towards this matter is considering the current climate change as a natural process of climatic variations intensified by the 'environmental unfriendly activities' of human beings. Although earth has naturally gone through various phases of climatic variation (like ice-age in the ancient geological time), still the current scenario is rapidly boosted by the anthropogenic influence. The main driving forces of the current climate change are the greenhouse gases released from a multitude of domestic, commercial and industrial processes.

Consequently, climate change has played a significant role in causing a plethora of deteriorating impacts. One of the adverse impacts of climate change is the increase in frequency of floods. As mentioned previously, alterations in atmospheric and climatic patterns are interrelated with each other. Hence, the variation in climatic patterns in any region becomes the reason of elevating the frequency of floods. Warm atmosphere has high level of water vapors which results in very heavy precipitation and flash floods. For instance, USA experienced 4 percent increase in water vapor concentration due to 1.8 AoF rise in temperature since 1901. This initiated heavy precipitation and storms in the North-eastern region of USA. Additionally, climate change and global warming have led the world towards melting of glaciers and rise in sea-level. This has also amplified the frequency of high-tide flooding. This frequent flooding results in negative influence on ecosystems and environment. For instance, the floodwater having contaminants causes pollution of water bodies and disturbs the habitats of species residing in water. The silt and sediment carried by the floodwater destroys the crops in the farmlands, and also deteriorates the quality of soil. Along with this, the freshwater also proves to be the booster of water-dependent parasitic and infectious beings. Plus, floods also cause the travel and spread of solid waste from one region to another. Additionally, floods various socioeconomic adversities. First of all, they have the potential to cause mass...