Climate Change Effects in Pakistan: Challenges Regarding Food Security and Health

Abstract

Climate change in lay terms means global warming resulting mainly from human activity.  According to the 2020 Global Climate Risk Index Report, Pakistan is among the 5 most affected countries in the world due to climate change. The most significant effects of climate change in Pakistan include erratic weather patterns such as unseasonal rains, melting glaciers, flooding, land sliding, heat waves, wildfires, prolonged droughts, and desertification of cultivable fertile land. All these changes are likely to lead to food insecurity in the country. Moreover, air pollution and “smog” appear to be a common phenomenon in large cities of the country. This could be the reason for the rise in respiratory diseases. Rapidly melting glaciers are going to make Pakistan among the most water-stressed countries in the world by 2040. All these events pose a great challenge to the scientists in the country, especially in the fields of biochemistry and molecular biology.