Making a Start on a Massive Job

Nestled deep in the upperreaches of Chitral, withthe imposing peakof Tirich Mir in theKarakoram range gazing down atthe town of Booni (aka Buni), isa small academy that is bringingsocial and climate changeawareness to youngsters. Thefragile ecology of the region hasbeen bearing the brunt of climatechange. It has been repeatedlyhit by glacial lake outburst floods(GLOFs), leading to loss oflife, property and livelihoods.The Booni Academy engageswith young people, sensitisingthem to further dangers andteaching them how to assessthe needs of – and developthe right responses with – theirrespective communities.

Way down south, in thehustle and bustle of Pakistan’slargest city, Karachi, EmaanDanish, as an eight-year-oldhome-schooled girl, polishedher observational skills duringher trips upcountry. Disturbedby the trash and the uncaringattitude that goes with it, shetook it upon herself (encouragedby her parents) to create a‘mascot’ in the form of a dollmade with recycled materialsto raise awareness about theimpact of climate change. Now,as a confident 14-year-old, shehas become a strident voice inthe fraternity of children, drawingtheir attention to the importanceof environmental stewardship,even participating in COP 28 atthe COP Children Pavilion.

Danish and many otherindividuals, organisations andinstitutions, are playing theirpart in raising awarenessabout the impact of climatechange. Developing appropriateresponses to the unpredictableis a huge task and requires a360-degree vision and approach.

Yes, tackling climate changeis largely the government’sresponsibility – as one wouldquickly like to point out. In fact,many also think that sincePakistan is hardly responsiblefor the emissions causingclimate change, it does not bearany responsibility to be partof the action to stem the tide.Yet, all countries – even thoselike Pakistan with minusculeemissions – need to be onboard, talking about action andachieving a broader societalacceptance of climate action.

Hence, the plethora of actionfrom different segments ofsociety. We see innovation inthe space of agri-input reforms,experimentation with cropsin soils that have degradeddue to a variety of factors, theintroduction of crops in areaswhere there were none earlier,and a push for solutions interms of wastewater treatmentand eco-friendly constructiontechniques. In fact, we arenow seeing the emergence of‘ecopreneurs’, as they havecome to be known, engaged inpiloting scalable, eco-friendlysolutions, while at the sametime approaching academicsand investors to take theirideas forward.

Industry too is pitching inby cleaning up its act. Thereis a greater understandingof the concept of embeddingsustainability through thecircularity of processes, evenif driven by the need to adhereto compliance for businesssustainability rather thanenvironmental sensitisation (itworks just as well both ways),and environment, social andgovernance (ESG) investingis also moving beyond beingmere jargon.

As far as government actionis concerned, it may seeminadequate, but the needle ismoving. Policies and plans arein place. What is required isan acceleration in the action,and here the biggest stumblingblock is the inadequacy offinance. The needs assessmenthas come up with a figure thatgoes into trillions of dollars andwhat is available falls woefullyshort. However, despite thislack of funds, hydro and solarplants are being set up, electricvehicles encouraged, earlywarning networks establishedand an upgrading of disastermanagement capacity. Thereis also a plan to run publicbuses on bio-methane takenfrom animal waste which untilnow had been flowing into thesea. This is where innovationcomes in. A young studentrecently came up with a biofertiliser solution called bhanor straw (agricultural residue).A community in the Salt Rangehas committed to stop choppingwood from the forests for fueland move to biogas from theirown animals.

Along with this, those inthe business of education,advocacy and communicationsare investing in developingcurricula, graphic-based materialand audio-visual tools to caterto the diverse communitiesthat make up the 256 millionpeople living in Pakistan. Today,we have proof of concepts offloating wetlands to clean upharbours and creeks, raftson which agriculture can becarried out in flooded areas, theupcycling of textile and plasticwaste, the planting of urban andother forests, the promotion ofkitchen gardening, fish, shrimpand crab farming, and growingorganic produce.

Wildlife conservation is alsotaking place, be it turtles,vultures, pangolins, elephants,monkeys and bears. Loss ofhabitat, and protecting whatis left from developers hasnow moved out from coreenvironment circles to becominga concern of the broader civilsociety, including the media andlegal fraternity.

Solution seekers are alsotaking a step back to paymore attention to traditional,indigenous solutions. This hasextended to architecture, townplanning and constructionthat can respond to the risingheat index and resist theworst effects of eventualitiessuch as floods and storms.To this end, alliances arebeing forged between differentsegments of society in orderto collaborate in a search forsolutions. All these initiativesembody hope for a responseto climate change. Some are atground zero such as ideation;some have leveraged helpfrom developmental agencies,foundations, donors and angelinvestors to create their proof ofconcept – and we need moresuch initiatives.

As climate change threatensto upend life as we know it,there are opportunities withinthat challenge. Many jobswill become redundant, butnew, greener opportunitiesbeckon and the first moverswill definitely be at anadvantage. Big-ticket items atthe government level, such asthe Living Indus and RechargePakistan initiatives, clean urbantransportation schemes andtransition towards renewables,are at the moment hoggingthe attention. However, thereneed to be more strategic andaggressive matches betweeninnovative doable ideas that whileproviding solutions, avoid topdown cookie-cutter approaches.The road to climate solutions isa long and bumpy one, mostlybecause of the lack of finance,but this should not stop us fromcommencing the journey.

Afia Salam is a journalist,climate change advocate andmember of the National ClimateChange Council.