At COP30, Dr. Musadik Malik the developed world to support conservation efforts
Federal Minister for Petroleum Musadik Masood Malik speaks to Reuters during an interview in Islamabad, June 11, 2024. PHOTO: REUTERS
ISLAMABAD:
Pakistan has called on the international community to act quickly to protect the rapidly deteriorating cryosphere, warning that accelerated glacier melting in the Hindu Kush-Karakoram-Himalaya (HKH) region poses an increasing risk to millions.
In a virtual address to a high-level dialogue at COP30 in Belem, Brazil, Pakistan’s climate minister, Senator Dr. Musadik Malik that the world is witnessing “unprecedented” changes across glacier systems, permafrost zones and snow-covered regions.
He warned that these shifts are already disrupting water supplies, food production and the security of mountain communities.
Hosted by Pakistan’s Ministry of Climate Change and Environment Coordination in partnership with international organizations, the discussion brought together officials, scientists and specialists from Nepal, Bhutan, Turkiye, Azerbaijan, ICIMOD, UNDP, UNESCO and the Asian Development Bank.
Dr. Malik said the HKH – often referred to as the planet’s “third pole” – is warming almost twice as fast as the global average, threatening the largest fresh water reservoir outside the polar regions.
Pakistan, home to about 13,000 glaciers, is already facing rapid retreat, expanding glacial lakes and a sharp increase in glacial lake flooding.
He said these changes have begun to alter the natural flow of the Indus River, damaging infrastructure, undermining agricultural land and increasing water insecurity downstream. For mountain communities, he said, climate change has become “a daily crisis”.
Dr. Malik said climate-driven glacier melting was proceeding at an unprecedented pace, leading to increasing hazards such as flooding of glacial lakes. He also pointed to global disparities in climate finance, arguing that a handful of large emitters contribute the most to global carbon pollution, while also receiving the bulk of green finance.
He called on countries with historical emissions responsibilities to support adaptation efforts in vulnerable mountain areas and called for the cryosphere agenda to be raised at COP30.
Scientific assessments presented at the event indicated that up to 65% of HKH glaciers could disappear by the end of the century under high-emission scenarios.
Experts at the dialogue noted that Pakistan’s northern regions are already experiencing frequent GLOF events, which have destroyed homes, schools, roads and cropland in Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Irregular river flows, they added, also weaken agricultural production, disrupt hydropower generation and strain water supplies in major cities, while altering ecosystems and local economies across the Indus basin.
With input from APP
