Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif emphasized the need for practical steps to protect glaciers to protect livelihood, agriculture and the environment.
In a message on the World Day of Glaciers observed on March 21, he said glaciers were a guarantee of life on Earth as they maintain the environmental system in its natural form and ensure the supply of important natural resources, especially clean water.
He said, “In 2025 we celebrate for the first time the World Day of Glaciers.”
“Today we recognize the need for immediate steps to protect the important reservoirs of clean water,” he said, adding, “Pakistan has more than 13,000 glaciers. This number is more than the glaciers present everywhere except in the polar regions on Earth,” he added.
The prime minister said Pakistan was among the top countries affected by climate change.
Due to climate change, the weather changed and the average temperature rose, resulting in rapid melting of more than 10,000 glaciers, he noted.
He said the result because of flooding and drought, rivers, agriculture and millions of people working in the sector faced dangers. He said due to melting of glaciers that thousands of new lakes were formed, which increased the danger of devastating floods. He said the floods in 2022 had made it clear that Pakistan was facing serious dangers of climate change.
These floods caused destruction among the population that live along streams and rivers and in the plains, resulting in a total economic loss of $ 30 billion, he added.
As one of the most affected countries, the Prime Minister said Pakistan needed further cooperation in various areas, including the program to monitor glaciers, early prognosis system, to the adoption of agricultural practice to protect against the poor effects of climate change and to attract investment to alternative solutions for storing water.
He said, “We need to promote environmental tourism at the international level according to the set guidelines to stop destruction of precious tourist assets from toxic substances and pollution.”
He said everyone needed to take practical steps to protect glaciers, because in the event that glaciers disappeared, livelihoods associated with them would also be destroyed.
