Climate adaptation troubles Karachi's planners

Zofeen Ebrahim in IPS: Climate proofing this bustling port city is a daunting task for planners who must consider factors ranging from proneness to flooding and administrative malaise to the fact that 60 percent of its 18 million people live in slums. The Economist Intelligence Unit in its latest global survey of living conditions released in August rated Karachi as the seventh least liveable city, placing it 134th in the world out of a list of 140 countries.

Farhan Anwar, an engineer and urban planner, argues that the recently notified Climate Change Policy for Pakistan directs attention mostly to agriculture, forestry and water resources and glosses over the special needs of urban settlements.

Anwar, lead author of the report, ‘Karachi city climate change adaptation strategy: A roadmap’, published in April, warns that if urgent action is not taken Karachi may turn into a cauldron of “social and ethnic tensions”.

Anwar believes that climate change preparedness for Karachi starts with an understanding of its political economy, its vulnerable and threatened communities, assets and biodiversity. This would require a detailed and comprehensive mapping of land use and ownership, utilities, transport networks and constructions.

...Although the city’s management infrastructure is teetering and its over-stretched civic services are at breaking point, Karachi accounts for 95 percent of Pakistan’s foreign trade and contributes to 30 percent of the national industrial production....

A 1984 picture of Slum Area #2 in Karachi, shot by Frits Selier, public domain

Karachi is at risk and unprepared

Shaheryar Mirza in the Express Tribune (Pakistan): Karachi cannot deal with existing climate risks, let alone those that could strike it in the future, was one of the direr messages delivered at a seminar on Tuesday. Moreover, urban planners say the government’s national climate change policy doesn’t take urban areas into consideration despite Karachi’s vulnerability to climate change.

“If you go through the national climate change policy you will fail to see the word ‘urban’ in there and this is appalling,” says Farhan Anwar from Shehri-Citizens for a Better Environment.

Anwar was speaking at a seminar and presented a report on ‘Climate Change Adaptation Strategy for Karachi – A Roadmap’. The seminar was held in collaboration with the NED University of Engineering and Technology and the chairperson of its architecture and planning department, Dr Noman Ahmed, also spoke.

According to Anwar, cities worldwide only occupy two per cent of land on earth but consume around 75% of its resources. This is why it is up to cities to adapt to climate change.

Anwar’s exhaustive report compiled over the course of five weeks isn’t all encompassing but aims to begin a conversation on the issue. The report observes that flooding is one of the most urgent issues that need to be tackled to protect Karachi from climate change....

Hawks Bay in Karachi, shot by Zuhair siddiqui, Wikimedia Commons, public domain 

Call to establish flood risk zones in Pakistan

Sa'adia Reza in Dawn.com (Pakistan): Given that drastic climate change is inevitable, the only way to lessen its impact is to prepare ourselves and adapt to it in the best possible manner. In this regard, a city-specific roadmap was discussed at a workshop, Climate change adaptation strategy for Karachi — a roadmap, at a hotel on Tuesday.

Organised by a non-governmental organisation, Shehri — Citizens for a Better Environment, the event identified and examined various factors that led to the present climatic conditions, and assessed the critical vulnerabilities that Karachi may be exposed to due to climate change.

Urban planner Farhan Anwar highlighted the need to involve the city government in order to realise an improvement in adapting to climate change. Using visual aid, Anwar identified areas that are vulnerable to floods, droughts, sea-level rise and extreme heat events. He laid emphasis on the urgent need for a strategy to combat climate change in Karachi.

He noted that a national disaster management report had discussed the impact of climate change on transport, energy and other sectors when it should have taken into account urban areas, which are important stakeholders. Referring to the areas that are dotted with slums and hill settlements threatened by floods, Anwar said that there was a vital need to establish a ‘flood risk zone’ in order to rate the risk possibility.

...“Apart from Malir and Lyari rivers, we have bloated drainage and sewage systems,” he said, “In worst case scenario, in terms of flooding, storm water and rainfall, 50 per cent of the entire population in vulnerable areas will have to be evacuated. We need a surface management plan for Karachi, and should evaluate and improve the design and maintenance of drainage system.”...

A 1900 bird's eye view of Suddar Bazaar in Karachi, from the British Museum

Pakistan's cities wake up to climate threats

Saleem Shaikh and Sughra Tunio in AlertNet: Alerts last June from the Pakistan Meteorological Department about a fast-approaching tropical cyclone, urging the evacuation of communities along the coastline of the southern city of Karachi, are still fresh in Haleema Memon’s memory.

“The warnings created a hue and cry in settlements along the shoreline and in other parts of the city… as it caught us unprepared,” recalled the 45-year-old mother of five, who lives in Ibrahim Hyderi, a fishing settlement on Karachi’s outskirts with her husband, a fisherman. “The people fled to take refuge in central and northern parts of the city as the storm brewed.”

...But not everyone received adequate notice of the storm. Many fishermen’s relatives, with good reason, were desperately worried about the safety of their loved ones out at sea. “My husband never came back,” said 35-year-old Ayesha Mallah. “It was too late for (him) and others on the fishing vessel. … The warnings were sounded some 18 hours after they had embarked on the journey.” Mallah says dozens of fishermen who went missing in the storm may well have postponed their trip if they had received more timely information about the cyclone.

That is one reason environmentalists are pressing city authorities to draw up an effective strategy to protect its fast-growing population from disasters. “Such plans will help mitigate risks and mortalities if any natural disaster strikes,” said Karachi-based Tahir Qureshi, a coastal ecosystem adviser at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Pakistan.

With a population of nearly 20 million, the sprawling port city of Karachi – which covers 3,527 square km (1,362 square miles) and is nearly four times larger than Hong Kong - is vulnerable to a range of natural disasters, from storms to earthquakes. It is also grappling with the threat of rising sea levels. Addressing the threats will take a range of interventions, experts say...

A Karachi beach at sunset, shot by Wahidain, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license