COP21 Paris: Pakistan and a New Global Climate Regime

Abstract

In today’s globalised world environmental factors are going to play a major role in not so distant a future, in the social and economic development of countries, especially the underdeveloped ones. We cannot comprehend the magnitude of these changes right now especially in Pakistan, where environmental degradation is already having a major impact,  be it through changing climate patterns, or increased number of natural calamities. Conference of Parties (COP21) was a United Nation (UN) Conference on Climate Change in Paris, held between November-December 2015, to put these environmental changes into perspective and find solutions for them. The major outcome of this conference was the Paris Agreement. In September 2015, during the 70th United Nation General Assembly (UNGA) meeting, which was a precursor to the COP21 Conference, the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) was approved. Pakistan is one of the countries, already suffering from the effects of climate change and water insecurity issues, falls into the category of water stressed states. As one of the signatories of the Paris Agreement, it gives a great opportunity to Pakistan to seek help from the international community to deal better with its environmental issues. As Pakistan is an agrarian economy, any drastic changes in the environment will have an adverse impact on its national economy. This paper will evaluate the vulnerability of Pakistan to the phenomenon of climate change, and the deleterious impact it can have on the per capita income, water security, and food-energy nexus of the people of Pakistan; and will suggest as to how the policy makers of the country can place it on the path towards green economy, as envisioned by the government's Vision 2025 plan.