ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is among countries that will be hit hardest by climate change though it contributes only a fraction to global warming, environmental experts including India's R K Pachauri have said.
Pachauri, chairman of the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change, said Pakistan is witnessing severe pressures on its natural resources and environment.
"Climatic changes are likely to exacerbate this trend. Water supply, already a serious concern in many parts of the country, will decline dramatically, affecting food production," he said.
"Export industries such as fisheries will also be affected, while coastal areas risk being inundated, flooding the homes of millions of people living in low-lying areas," Pachauri said in his address at a regional conference here yesterday on "Climate change: challenges and opportunities for South Asia".
The two-day meet, inaugurated by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, brought together experts from the region to share knowledge and explore measures to combat climate change. President Asif Ali Zardari hosted a lunch in honour of Pachauri.
Though Pakistan contributes least to global warming - one-thirty-fifth of the world's average of carbon dioxide emissions - temperatures in the country's coastal areas have risen since the early 1900s from 0.6 degree Celsius to 1 degree Celsuis.
Rainfall has decreased 10 to 15 per cent in the coastal belt and hyper arid plains over the past 40 years while there is an increase in summer and winter rains in north Pakistan.
