Climate Change & Agriculture
Agriculture and climate change are the twomost pressing determinants for Pakistan’s future.Agriculture is subject to the dictates of humanpolicies and interventions, and so far, both policiesand interventions have produced sub-optimalresults. Climate is subject to the dictates of nature inresponse to human intervention – none of them goodfor the planet.
Agriculture is the backbone of Pakistan’s economy.It employs about 37% of the workforce and accountsfor one fifth of the GDP. The challenges it faces in2025 are immense. Water scarcity has become anational emergency. The irrigation infrastructure iscrumbling. The soil is degrading. Crop yields areamong the lowest in the world. Production is belowpar. Farmers are helpless.
Yet, intractable as these problems may seem,as amply demonstrated by Aurora’s coverage, thesolutions not only exist, they are relatively easy toimplement. The problem is political will. Agricultureis too big and crucial a sector to function withoutgovernment support and policies – and for policiesto work, they must be implementable and take intoaccount the realities on the ground. The corporatesector too has a major role to play, especially in termsof investment, applied research and technologicalinnovation. Agriculture has enormous businesspotential across multiple sectors of the economy. Thebusiness case for agriculture exists, but first of all,sustainability in intent is crucial.
Climate change affects everything. It poses anexistential threat to the entire planet long term. InPakistan, the effects are already here.
Climate change is also a divisive issue. It is aboutwho controls the climate discourse and who is imposingwhose agenda on whom. It is about the global North-Southdivide, about how highly developed countries have builttheir development through the adoption of practices theconsequences of which are being paid by the entire planet,and about how countries in the process of development mustnow forego their own aspirations of growth because the planetcannot sustain them.
Unjust as matters are, the reality is that Pakistan’s isamong the 10 most vulnerable countries. Our glaciers aremelting, our water resources are depleting, our summersare even hotter, and our agricultural harvests are subject tounpredictable climate events. As Aurora has highlighted, theissues are complex, especially when Western governmentspursue their own agendas, particularly on the subjects ofclimate finance and justice. These issues will have to bedebated at the global level.
In the meantime, the climate waits for no one, and climatechange needs to become a national priority backed bya national response based on partnerships between thegovernment, the private sector and civil society. Solutions,if they are implementable and effective, require changes inmindsets and a commitment to make the adaptive changesprescribed. Investments need to be made in acquiring theexpertise and capacity to deliver climate change goals acrossmultiple disciplines. This is the direction in which the nationalconversation must head.
Both agriculture obsolescence and climate change areseverely impacting Pakistan’s economy and its food security.Over the last five years, Aurora has acted as a forum whereexperts from across the spectrum of the agri-economy andthe climate change debate have presented their solutions andinsights, with the emphasis on how the private sector and thegovernment can collaborate.
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