The International Rescue Committee (IRC) warns people that rising temperatures pose a deadly risk to the country’s 8.6 million food insecure citizens, while the government of Pakistan issues statewide warnings about severe heat waves predicted to affect vast portions of the country.
The heatwaves could affect up to 26 districts, and the effects would probably make the effects of the current drought and severe flooding worse. Due to the extensive loss of agricultural land, food prices have skyrocketed since July 2022, leaving households unable to provide for their families.
Longer-term implications have extended to education. Many families in Sindh and Balochistan, the regions most affected by heatwaves and floods, have reported that school closures have interfered with their children’s education. According to a recent analysis by the IRC, the impact of the July 2022 floods on Pakistan’s education sector was more severe than the two years of school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic. Two million children in Pakistan have been unable access to education since March 2020, and another 3.5 million continue to experience difficulties in their education due to flooding. Director of IRC Pakistan Shabnam Baloch stated,
Pakistan is experiencing the most severe effects of climate change despite producing less than 1% of global greenhouse gas emissions. It is impossible to overstate the terrible effects that extreme weather occurrences are having on communities all around Pakistan. In particular, heatwaves can affect future generations profoundly and permanently.
In the IRC’s report on learning losses in Pakistan, 14% of Sindh provincial households questioned said that heatwaves had interfered with their children’s schooling. In the meantime, 17% of households claimed that during the summer, their household income dropped by more than a third. As a result, increasing numbers of households are turning to desperate methods to make a survival such as using child labor or child marriage as a way to get money.
“It is not possible for the world to overlook Pakistan’s climatic catastrophe. As the nation with the lowest contribution to global gas emissions, the international community must share responsibility for mitigating the harm caused by natural disasters like heat waves and flooding. Extreme temperatures that might remain for more than a month are currently affecting Pakistan. It is important that world leaders understand their responsibility to save communities from irreversible damage and provide Pakistan’s civilians with the immediate money and assistance they require to protect them from climate change.
In 1980, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) started conducting activities in Pakistan in response to the increasing number of refugees from Afghanistan. With more than 1,500 employees and volunteers, our teams provided the Afghan refugees and host communities with food, shelter, safety, primary healthcare, education, vocational training, water supply systems, sanitation facilities, and other necessities. The International Red Cross (IRC) has teams in place that were probably going to be the worst affected due to the July 2022 floods. IRC personnel were ready to provide emergency supplies, financial support, and shelter to families in Sindh and Balochistan who had no way of getting away from the rising seas.
