Pakistan ranked fifth among countries most vulnerable to climate change

KARACHI: Pakistan is ranked fifth among a list of countries that are most vulnerable to climate change and rising temperatures, highlights a documentary.

In the documentary “Vanishing Wetland”, Pakistani filmmaker Abdullah Khan highlighted that the Indus River, a lifeline for people across the country, is fast becoming a vanishing wetland due to climate change.

The Indus River is one of the world’s longest rivers. It flows through parts of China and India and runs through Pakistan sustaining the livelihoods of millions of people. The combined effects of growing pollution, the building of dams, and the permanent melting of glaciers – which provide up to 80 per cent of the river’s water during the dry season – are all having an unprecedented impact on the region’s environment, health and quality of life.

Read more: ‘Voices from the Roof of the World’ film series launched

Abdullah, in his documentary, tells the story of farmers dependent on the river and the age-old fishing community, the Mohanas, whose existence is dependent on Lake Manchar.

“The drastic decrease in visiting migratory birds, the loss of 90 per cent of the hog deer population, almost complete wipeout of mugger crocodiles and threats to the Indus River wetlands is an eye-opener. Equally depressing is to witness the loss of age-old cultures and communities struggling for livelihood,” said Abdullah.

Wetlands is part of Voices from the Roof of the World, a series of 10 environmental documentaries, produced by filmmakers from Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and India under a joint initiative by Aga Khan University, Aga Khan Agency for Habitat, Aga Khan Foundation and the University of Central Asia.

Read more: An analysis of the impacts of climate change on Pakistan

The series focuses on the climate crisis in the earth’s highest mountain region from the Pamirs to the Himalayan mountains. Home to 240 million people and countless rare and endangered species, these mountains are also the largest depository of ice outside the polar ice caps, providing water to a quarter of the world’s population.