Climate Change, Poverty and Environmental Crisis in the Disaster Prone Areas of Pakistan

Overview

This study was commissioned to review the impact of climate change on Pakistan’s rural disaster-prone communities in Badin (Sindh), Rajanpur (Punjab), and Khuzdar (Balochistan). The study’s aim was to review community perceptions of the impact of climate change and recommend coping mechanisms for affected communities. The findings will support different organisations and institutions to initiate adaptation programmes. This report has helped Oxfam GB to initiate an adaptation programme in the coastal communities of Pakistan. The findings of the study are remarkably consistent with global, regional, and national climate change projections and alarming clearly show that environmental problems in the three districts are serious and growing, and climate change is exacerbating them. Poor and marginalised communities tend to be those most vulnerable to climate change and least able to cope with weather-related disasters because of lack of access to information and resources to reduce their risk.