AS global warming accelerates, Pakistan and neighbouring nations will face enormous challenges in the coming decades.

It is an irony that those of the world’s countries which have contributed the least to planetary greenhouse emissions are the ones facing the most immediate damage from their effects, while the major sources of carbon pollution are relatively protected by lucky accidents of geography from the consequences of their actions.

Analysts predict that as water shortages intensify and agriculture becomes less predictable and productive, the strategic impact of climate change will include bitter resource wars, a catastrophic development.

While morality demands that industrialised nations take immediate steps to reduce atmospheric carbon output, it is equally imperative that the countries suffering from this destabilisation strengthen their infrastructure.

WARREN SENDERS United States