FAISALABAD: Climate change is the real challenge playing havoc with lives of the people, livestock and agricultural sector worldwide and tangible efforts are needed to fight it with justifying strategies and resilient agriculture system.

This was stated at a five-day workshop titled “Climate Changes, Resilient Agriculture Systems”, organised by the University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF) here on Monday.

Addressing the inaugural session, Malaysian High Commissioner Dato Dr Hasrul Sani Bin Mujtabar urged researchers, farming community, governments, industry and other stakeholders to join hands to mitigate the increasing impact of climate change.

“We have to put the interest of mankind first and then the national interest,” he added.

He stressed upon the need for strengthening the academia and research ties between Pakistan and Malaysia.

UAF Vice-Chancellor Dr Iqrar Ahmad said agriculture was the area worst hit by climate change. He said Pakistan was among the lowest contributor to carbon and greenhouse impact. He said due to recent floods and other climate-related events, Pakistan, during the last half decade, had suffered losses to the tune of $20 billion.

He said the country had suffered devastating impact of increasingly erratic weather patterns, adding that the flood pattern had also changed. He said that earlier short stature and duration crops were introduced and now it was time to develop and adopt climate change resilient crops.

He was of the view that the rice crop emitted greenhouse gases. He suggested that the countries totally depending on rice as staple food needed to change their eating patterns as they were facing the highest rate of blindness due to vitamin A deficiency.

Dr Bashir Ahmad, Dr Ashafq Ahmad Chatha and others also spoke on the occasion.

Published in Dawn, December 1st, 2015

Opinion

Editorial

Smog hazard
Updated 05 Nov, 2024

Smog hazard

The catastrophe unfolding in Lahore is a product of authorities’ repeated failure to recognise environmental impact of rapid urbanisation.
Monetary policy
05 Nov, 2024

Monetary policy

IN an aggressive move, the State Bank on Monday reduced its key policy rate by a hefty 250bps to 15pc. This is the...
Cultural power
05 Nov, 2024

Cultural power

AS vital modes of communication, art and culture have the power to overcome social and international barriers....
Disregarding CCI
Updated 04 Nov, 2024

Disregarding CCI

The failure to regularly convene CCI meetings means that the process of democratic decision-making is falling apart.
Defeating TB
04 Nov, 2024

Defeating TB

CONSIDERING the fact that Pakistan has the fifth highest burden of tuberculosis in the world as per the World Health...
Ceasefire charade
Updated 04 Nov, 2024

Ceasefire charade

The US talks of peace, while simultaneously arming and funding their Israeli allies, are doomed to fail, and are little more than a charade.