Pakistan And The Fight For Climate Justice

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By Jeffrey D. Sachs, Director of Center for Sustainable Development, Columbia University: Too often, rich countries deny their historical responsibilities, whether it be for colonialism, slavery, or today's mounting climate damage.

Pakistan’s floods can be clearly linked to human-induced climate change. Because warmer air holds more moisture, higher temperatures generally mean heavier monsoons. While monsoons have a natural year-to-year variation (being strong in some years and weak in others), the probability distribution is shifting toward heavier rainfall. The melting of Himalayan glaciers due to rising temperatures may also be contributing to increased flooding, and the same is likely true of land-use changes, including deforestation and poorly designed infrastructure. The world’s rich countries are like that polluting factory. They have deprived Pakistan of the long-term climatic conditions on which it has built its economy, homes, farms, and infrastructure.