Cascading Climate Change Impacts
The Art
The Graph
A dramatic example of how climate change affects developing countries that have contributed minimally to greenhouse gas emissions but bear the bulk of its various impacts, is Pakistan this last summer. After experiencing scorching, record-breaking heat of 51°C/124F° during the spring high heat season (which began months earlier than usual), Pakistan was inundated by monsoon floods in September 2022.
“The devastating floods in Pakistan are a "wake-up call" to the world on the threats of climate change, experts have said. The record-breaking rain would devastate any country, not just poorer nations, one climate scientist has told BBC News. The human impacts are clear - another 2,000 people were rescued from floodwaters on Friday, while ministers warn of food shortages after almost half the country's crops were washed away. A sense of injustice is keenly felt in the country. Pakistan contributes less than 1% of the global greenhouse gases that warm our planet but its geography makes it extremely vulnerable to climate change.
‘Literally, one-third of Pakistan is underwater right now, which has exceeded every boundary, every norm we've seen in the past,’ Climate minister Sherry Rehman said this week.
Pakistan is located at a place on the globe which bears the brunt of two major weather systems. One can cause high temperatures and drought, like the heatwave in March, and the other brings monsoon rains. The majority of Pakistan's population live along the Indus river, which swells and can flood during monsoon rains. The science linking climate change and more intense monsoons is quite simple. Global warming is making air and sea temperatures rise, leading to more evaporation. Warmer air can hold more moisture, making monsoon rainfall more intense. Scientists predict that the average rainfall in the Indian summer monsoon season will increase due to climate change, explains Anja Katzenberger at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.
But Pakistan has something else making it susceptible to climate change effects - its immense glaciers. The northern region is sometimes referred to as the 'third pole' - it contains more glacial ice than anywhere in the world outside of the polar regions. As the world warms, glacial ice is melting. Glaciers in Pakistan's Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa regions are melting rapidly, creating more than 3,000 lakes, the the UN Development Programme told BBC News. Around 33 of these are at risk of sudden bursting, which could unleash millions of cubic meters of water and debris, putting 7 million people at risk…”*
*“How Pakistan floods are linked to climate change, By Georgina Rannard,
BBC News Climate and Science Sept 2, 2022
The art is based on a sketch of various words representing the chaotic confluence of climate change impacts experienced by Pakistan during these last months, reflecting the cascading effects of climate change exacerbated by the inequity of risks far in excess of responsibility, typical of developing countries.
