The Politics of Climate Change: A Critical Appraisal of National Climate Change Policy of Pakistan Vis-À-Vis the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

Abstract

Pakistan has been impacted negatively with climate change-a greatest threat to humanity in 21^st century. The country had its worst floods in recent history with more than 1500 people killed, an estimated 33 million people directly affected coupled with  almost 10 billion dollars damage caused, and about one third of the country inundated. In order to effectively deal with this ubiquitous threat, Pakistan formulated its comprehensive National Climate Change Policy (NCCP) in 2012 and updated it in the light of COP21 measures in the year 2021. Despite these measures that Pakistan undertook in the wake of this impending doom, its climate change policy invites further evaluation so as to identify un-addressed policy measures with respect to the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Against this backdrop, the study undertakes a holistic analysis of Pakistan’s climate change policy documents being evaluated against the strict criterion set by IPCC. The main features of this criterion include accessibility, background, objectives, resources, monitoring and evaluation, public opportunities, and obligations. Furthermore, the study presents a perspective about the critical aspect of climate change from the viewpoint of Pakistan. In this regard, various surveys and interviews conducted by and from climate experts show that Pakistan is still lagging behind when it comes to implementation of its National Climate Change Policy (NCCP) vis-à-vis the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Besides, the findings highlight the need of a future climate change policy to be formulated to contain repetition of climate catastrophe like the 2022 floods that wrecked havocs across the country.

Keywords: Climate Change Policy, Pakistan, UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Environmental Governance, Policy Analysis