Assignment Question- Week 6

Muhammad Rafey Khan

16776
Discuss how compared to 30-40 years ago, climate change has become an important plank of a state’s
public and security policies. What implications would this have for a state’s socio-economic priorities?
Discuss whether this has factored into Pakistan’s governance policies, and if so, in what way?

During the past few decades, we have seen several instances where natural disasters have

occurred due to the imbalance in the climate. Whether it be a hurricane in USA, wildfire in

Australia or the melting of glaciers in the arctic, they are all caused by climate change caused by

global warming and the excessive pollution humans have caused to fuel their economies. Since

the inception of global institutions and more actively is the past 40 years, a lot of stress is now

being given on the climate control policies as part of the state’s public and security policies

globally. Even countries in the third world countries have started to take this topic seriously as

it can be a threat to its national security in the coming years if it is not dealt with carefully,

Pakistan being one of them. [ CITATION htt6 \l 1033 ]

Climate change and its consequences have already been adversely experienced by many

countries around the globe in the form of heat waves, droughts, excessive rainfall/snow, etc. all

of which have affected the infrastructure, agriculture and economy in general of all the affected

countries. This realization basically started 30 years ago in USA in 1987 when a severe drought

struck US and a huge bush fire erupted in Brazil. But this was on cards as a lot of scientists had

predicted that industrialization will eventually cause an increase in global temperatures and

bring about imbalance in the ecosystem. Since then the seriousness for controlling the use of
fossil fuels, nuclear fuels, CFCs and other environmentally harmful substances have increased.

The UN has played a major role with passing multiple resolutions, some of the landmark

achievements are Kyoto protocol and Paris Agreement. In 2008, the High Representative and

the European Commission to the European Council published a report that described climate

change as a ‘key security threat’.

It is quite evident that developed nations in the Europe and elsewhere have started taking steps

to mitigate the negative consequences of climate change, but this comes at an economic cost.

The climate change is a result of decades of investments in industries and transport all of which

has caused several damages to the nature, the rich countries are able to take measures which

will prove to be beneficial in the future, on the other hand the third world countries which

basically follow the developed nations to draft its policies and advancements are not yet in the

position to take steps to mitigate the rising challenge. For countries like Pakistan, replacing

fossil fuel run power plants and industries with renewables is a dauting task which is not

possible keeping in minding the current situation if the economy. But this again comes at a cost,

countries specially in the subcontinent have for years neglected the importance for regulating

its industries to measure the harmful emissions and pollution it is causing. This makes them one

of the most affected countries to experience negative impact of climate change is negative for

the economy. International Political Economy discusses the different perspectives which affect

how different countries have reacted to the climate change by opting perspectives from

liberalism, Marxism and nationalism which has affected their policy making. [ CITATION htt8 \l

1033 ]
Each of the perspective of IPE has its own merits and de merits, which has caused the

sustenance of international agreements possible globally but not very effective. The nationalist

approach is most damaging if the country itself is not directly affected by climate change, as

state interests are given priority over any other agreement. The Liberal approach gives a better

solution because it believes in interdependent economies, hence, to achieve sustainable

developments nations will work together. But in the process, it ignores the role of states and

corporates which have other intentions to sustainable growth of the society. Lastly, Marxism

believes in the fight between the northern and southern countries where the countries in the

north dictate the countries in the south with their policy and puts the blame on capitalism by

completely ignoring issues caused by socialism.

Although all the perspectives have their flaws, but they are all now coinciding on the fact that

climate control is important for the sustenance of this world, thus everyone will eventually be

affected by it. Even the corporates and capitalist are making sure to bring in the element of

environmentally friendliness by innovating with products that have a lesser carbon footprint

and less CO2 and CFC emissions. Over the past years we have seen countries adopting the

renewable energy over the conventional fossil fuels and electric cars being introduced as well

to reduce air pollution and its effects. Although nations and corporates efforts are

commendable, but part of the credit goes to international organizations and bodies are

continuously incentivizing such activities and continuously working for its implementation.

As mentioned earlier several organizations with members from the strong countries have

formed agreements to collectively work for improving climate. Non-compliance with these

agreements automatically makes countries economically weak as some countries prefer them
less for trade and other non-economic activities. Some of the prominent organizations, like

WWF (World Wide Fund) and United Nation (UNDP) collaborate with local institutions in

countries to improve climate control measures by reducing greenhouse gases, pollution, etc.

Government of Pakistan has also in the last decade has started taking climate control measures

seriously. Specially the current government of PTI even announced in its manifesto to fight

against climate change. The interesting part is that Pakistan even if it takes a nationalist

approach is forced to take these measures seriously as climate control in the future can prove

to be a threat to its existence. Pakistan has experienced massive floods, heat waves, scarcity

and drought over the recent years which are all linked to the global warming. Moreover, the

melting of glaciers at a rapid pace in its northern areas poses a threat for future where it may

cause severe water droughts.

Efforts are made under the National Climate Change Policy of Pakistan which talks about both

climate change adaptation and climate change mitigation. To tackle these issues in hand the

current government has taken initiatives to prepare itself for the future consequences and at

the same time it is trying to take climate control policy. The billion-tree project announced by

the government is one of the measures to restore nature. On the other hand, plans to build a

dam will let it store the water melting from glaciers for future use. Similarly, Pakistan has seen

measures being taken on the coastline as well to protect sea life as well. Projects to plant

mangroves and reduce water pollution to save marine life are all efforts to save guard the

balance the circle of life. [ CITATION htt7 \l 1033 ]

In the last few decades, we have seen several new policies on national and international level

where the need for climate control policies are directly connected to other policies. Even

countries which are scarce on resources to tackle the short-term issues it has are also making

efforts to tackle climate changes because either they are incentivized for it or a direct threat to

not complying with it. The different perspectives of international politics have come into

harmony to bring climate change policies into account as this will negatively impact all the

nations and people collectively. Although not everyone on the planet is a culprit for this dire

condition, but it is everyone’s responsibility to devise policies and legislations that support the

improvement of the climate and environment.

References
(n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2018/07/embark-essay-climate-
change-pollution-revkin/

(n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.gcisc.org.pk/National_Climate_Change_Policy_2012.pdf

(n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.policyforum.net/climate-change-and-national-security/