National Climate Change Policy 2012.

The National Climate Change Policy provides a framework for addressing the issues that Pakistan faces due to the climate change. In view of Pakistan’s high vulnerability to adverse impacts of particular extreme events, adaptation effort is the focus of this policy document. The vulnerabilities of various sectors to climate change have been highlighted and appropriate adaptation measures spelled out. These cover policy measures to address issues in various sectors such as water, agriculture, forestry, coastal areas, biodiversity and other vulnerable ecosystems.
II Technology: a. Improve crop productivity per unit of land and per unit of water by increasing the efficiency of various agricultural inputs, in particular irrigation water; b. Promote energy efficient farm mechanization to increase yields and labour saving; c. Improve farm practices by adopting modern techniques such as laser land leveling, crop diversification, proper cropping patterns and optimized planting dates; d. Promote through financial incentives, solar water desalination for irrigation and drinking particularly in saline groundwater regions; e. Improve irrigation practices by adopting, wherever feasible, modern techniques such as the use of sprinklers and trickle irrigation; f. Develop capacity based on Remote Sensing and GIS techniques to assess temporal changes in land cover in different agro-ecological zones; g. Promote biotechnology in terms of more carbon responsive crops, improved breeds and production of livestock using genetic engineering.
To ensure that climate change is mainstreamed in the economically and socially vulnerable sectors of the economy and to steer Pakistan towards climate resilient development. The main objectives of Pakistan’s Climate Change Policy include: 1. To pursue sustained economic growth by appropriately addressing the challenges of climate change; 2. To integrate climate change policy with other inter-related national policies; 3. To focus on pro-poor gender sensitive adaptation while also promoting mitigation to the extent possible in a cost-effective manner; 4. To ensure water security, food security and energy security of the country in the face of the challenges posed by climate change; 5. To minimize the risks arising from the expected increase in frequency and intensity of extreme weather events such as floods, droughts and tropical storms; 6. To strengthen inter-ministerial decision making and coordination mechanisms on climate change; 7. To facilitate effective use of the opportunities, particularly financial, available both nationally and internationally; 8. To foster the development of appropriate economic incentives to encourage public and private sector investment in adaptation measures; 9. To enhance the awareness, skill and institutional capacity of relevant stakeholders; 10. To promote conservation of natural resources and long term sustainability.
The important climate change threats to Pakistan are: 1. Considerable increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, coupled with erratic monsoon rains causing frequent and intense floods and droughts; 2. Projected recession of the Hindu Kush-Karakoram-Himalayan (HKH) glaciers due to global warming and carbon soot deposits from trans-boundary pollution sources, threatening water inflows into the Indus River System (IRS); 3. Increased siltation of major dams caused by more frequent and intense floods; 4. Rising temperatures resulting in enhanced heat and water-stressed conditions, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions, leading to reduced agricultural productivity; 5. Further decrease in the already scanty forest cover, from too rapid change in climatic conditions to allow natural migration of adversely affected plant species; 6. Increased intrusion of saline water in the Indus delta, adversely affecting coastal agriculture, mangroves and the breeding grounds of fish; 7. Threat to coastal areas due to projected sea level rise and increased cyclonic activity due to higher sea surface temperatures; 8. Increased stress between upper riparian and lower riparian regions in relation to sharing of water resources; 9. Increased health risks and climate change induced migration. The above threats lead to major survival concerns for Pakistan, particularly in relation to the country’s water security, food security and energy security.
IV Risk Management: a. Develop a proper risk management system including crop insurance to safeguard against crop failures due to extreme events (such as floods and droughts); b. Improve the extension system and enhance use of the media to allow effective and timely communication of climatic predictions and corresponding advice to farming communities; c. Encourage farmers, particularly in rain-fed areas, to avoid monoculture and, instead, plant a variety of heat and drought resistant low delta crops, so as to reduce the risk of crop failure; d. Encourage agriculture drought management practices that recognize drought as part of a highly variable climate, as opposed to treating it as a causal natural disaster; e. Establish livestock disease monitoring and surveillance systems at district level.