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Population, Environment and
Population
Development
Sharing Our Resources: A Vision for Addressing Cross
Border Water Scarcity Caused by Climate Change
Proff Dr
P
D Mohammad
M h
d Nizamuddin
Ni
ddi
Vice Chancellor, University of Gujrat
Islamabad, 28-30 March 2010
Background
y A Malthusian theory about the relationship between population
growth and the environment suggests that as populations grow,
grow
they strip their resources resulting in famine, hunger and
environmental degradation
y That is an oversimplification and has largely shown not to be
true. Instead, factors such as levels of industrialization and the
degree to which the industry relies on fossil fuels have
determined environmental degradation or sustainability. In
addition human beings have the innate capacity to invent or
addition,
engineer our way out of population or resource crises; more
people mean potentially more solutions to problems
2
Background
y As regards climate change, countries with large populations such
as China and India have not been the major contributors to GHG
emissions over the decades. While their overall emissions might
be high (China is the largest emitter, for example), their per
capita emissions are low
y Penalizing developing countries for the problem caused by rich
countries
t i is
i nott seen as fair
f i by
b the
th developing
d l i world,
ld so they
th
understandably resist demands to meet the same types of targets
as industrialized nations
y Researchers have found that depending on the variables that you
3
factor in, the planet can support can support both an extremely
large population and an extremely small one. These ranges are
ridiculously wide: from two billion to 147 billion people!
Background
y Researchers have found that depending on the variables that you
factor in, the planet can support can support both an extremely
large population and an extremely small one. These ranges are
ridiculously wide: from two billion to 147 billion people!
y There are concerns, however, that many developing countries are
pursuing
i the
th same path
th to
t development
d l
t that
th t the
th currently
tl
industrialized countries have, which involved many
environmentally damaging practices. There is, therefore, an
urgent need to focus on cleaner technologies and an alternative
path to a more sustainable form of development
4
Background
y An additional concern, however, is that as countries such
as China, India and Brazil grow in prosperity, there will
be large populations with purchasing power, consuming
more goods and services
services, thus making more demands on
the planet
y Many environmentalists note that if such countries were
to follow the style of development that the rich countries
used,
d then
th our planet
l t may nott be
b able
bl to
t cope muchh
longer
5
Some Landmark Events
y International Conference on Population and Development
(Cairo 1994)
(Cairo,
y Earth
E th Summit
S
it (Rio
(Ri de
d Jaenrio,
J
i 1994)
y United
U it d Nations
N ti Climate
Cli t Change
Ch
Summit
S
it (Copenhagen,
(C
h
2009)
6
Earth Summit
y The Agenda 21 (Programme of Action for
Sustainable Development) adopted at the Summit
stressed the integration of environment and
de elopment concerns,
development
concerns and highlighted the need
for paying greater attention to these concerns
y Agenda 21 reflects a global consensus and political
commitment at the highest
g
level on development
p
and environment cooperation
7
International Conference on
Population and Development
y At
A ICPD
ICPD, 179 countries
i unanimously
i
l agreed
d that
h
population is not about numbers, but about people
y The Conference made it clear that improved social,
economic and health status of women is a key to
reduce the population growth
y The participating countries adopted a 20
20-year
year
programme of Action, which focused on individuals’
needs and rights, rather than on achieving
demographic targets
8
UN Climate
C ate Change
C a ge Co
Conference
e e ce
• The conference, dubbed as the largest in history, was
attended by all the 193 parties to the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
• Importantly, it was attended by more than 130 heads of
state and government, including those of major polluters
such as China, the US, the UK, Germany, India, Brazil and
South Africa
• The Copenhagen Accord is a three-page political declaration
with two appendices: one to list 2020 economy-wide
economy wide
emissions reduction targets for developed countries, and
second for nationally appropriate mitigation actions of the
US and developing countries
9
Holding
g Up
p the Sky:
y Women,,
Population and Climate Change
y Pakistan Supplement to UNFPA’s ‘State of World Population
2009’ Report prepared by the University of Gujrat
y Launched at Copenhagen Climate Change Conference in
December 2009,
2009 the document makes an attempt to draw a
line between environmental degradation and climate change
y Major findings, conclusions and set of recommendations to
policymakers have been summarized on the next pages
10
Setting the Context
y The realization that population, environment and
development are closely inter-linked
inter linked has a rather
recent history: people are a part of the
environment, for the latter covers both sociocultural
lt l and
d bi
bio-physical
h i l aspects;
t d
development
l
t iis
intended to improve the quality of life of life of
the people, but it affects both people and the
environment
i
y These relationships
p are especially
p
y critical for
countries that are in the process of modernization
and industrialization, but are still in the early
stage
g of such transitions
11
The Pakistani Context
y Pakistan’s contribution to climate change in the form of
greenhouse gas emissions is almost negligible, but it is
still one of the worst affected countries in the world
• Pakistan has witnessed some major climatic events, from
droughts and floods to record temperatures, in the last
few years
• People of some geographical zones (for example, coastal
districts of Sindh and Balochistan) are more vulnerable to
climate change
• Pakistan is the most urbanized country in South Asia and
it also has the highest rate of urbanization in the region
12
The Pakistani Context
• Though women are known to be more caring of nature, and
possess experiential knowledge of the environment, they are
denied their due role in planning, monitoring and execution of
environmental projects
• It is difficult to establish a clear link between population growth
and climate change; Balochistan is Pakistan’s
Pakistan s least densely
populated province, but suffers most from climate change
• The use of compressed natural gas (CNG) is constantly rising in
Pakistan and the country has become its largest user in the world,
both in terms of number of vehicles and fillingg stations
13
The Pakistani Context
• Pakistan lacks a culture of documenting and thereby replicating
indigenous innovative solutions, such as ‘glacier grafting’ and
biogas plants, to cope with the impacts of climate change
y Some off the
h major environmentall issues faced
f d by
b Pakistan
k
include air pollution, shortage of drinking and agricultural
water deforestation,
water,
deforestation loss of biodiversity,
biodiversity threats to flora and
fauna, etc.
y Though women are known to be more caring of nature,
nature and
possess experiential knowledge of the environment, they are
denied their due role in pplanning,
g monitoringg and execution of
environmental projects
14
Recommendations (Policy)
ƒ Integrate gender concerns into environmental planning,
monitoring and evaluation; and enhance communities
communities’
meaningful participation in climate change policymaking
ƒ Revise policy guidelines on farming practices and devise
strategies for conserving agricultural water lost in canal
system
ƒ Allocate national budget resources to climate change
initiatives and mainstream adaptation into national
p
planning
g
ƒ Establish mass public transit systems in both cities and
towns; and promote the use of CNG in public transport
15
Recommendations (Research)
ƒ Establish an indigenous body of knowledge to promote
ƒ
ƒ
ƒ
ƒ
ƒ
16
research on climate change with a focus on women and
population
Develop water harvesting and conservation technologies,
rationalize the use of water in agriculture, and provide
better climate information to farmers
Conduct research to understand the specific causes and
consequences
co
seque ces of
o climate
c ate change-induced
c a ge duced migration
g at o
Study the impacts of overpopulation in cities due to rural
to urban migration
Study and analyze links between climate change and
patterns of morbidity, energy security, population growth,
etc.
Develop climate sensitive policies that build local resilience
and adaptive capacity
Recommendations (Advocacy)
ƒ Promote public-private partnerships (PPPs) to support
ƒ
ƒ
ƒ
ƒ
ƒ
17
application of best practices in energy efficiency
Reduce reliance on fossil fuels and increase reliance on
renewable sources of energy
Conserve the fast dwindling forest resources
Encourage the SME sector to invest in cleaner
technologies
P
Promote
t jjudicious
di i
use off water
t b
by iincreasing
i awareness
among consumers
Help civil society in contributing to the development of
National Adaptation Plan of Action (NAPA),
(NAPA) and
facilitate the government in the development of climate
change policy and related legal instruments