Currently — August 29th, 2022

The weather, currently.

Extreme monsoon rains in Pakistan have displaced 10 million people, amid fears of a repeat of the country’s devastating 2010 superflood.

Nationwide, rainfall in Pakistan this year is about three to five times normal, with some regions receiving more than 20 times the normal amount during monsoon season.

Graphic video of building collapses, narrow urban roads being transformed into rushing waterways, and people being swept away have been widely circulated on social media. Stories from survivors are heartbreaking. More than 1,000 people have been confirmed dead so far.

The floods are the latest in a horrendous year for extreme weather in Pakistan. Earlier this year, Pakistan sweltered under a record-breaking heatwave where temperatures rose as high as 50 deg C (122 deg F) and Himalayan glaciers melted so fast they created flash flooding.

Now, the Pakistani government has declared a climate catastrophe.“These are the direct results of climate change,” said Sherry Rehman, Pakistan’s top climate official, urging the nations of the world to provide urgent humanitarian aid.

In 2010, severe rains inundated as much as one-third of the country’s land area, and there are signs that this year’s flooding could be just as bad — 65 percent of the country was affected at press time.

“We are at the moment at the ground zero of the frontline of extreme weather events, in an unrelenting cascade of heatwaves, forest fires, flash floods, multiple glacial lake outbursts, flood events, and now the monster monsoon of the decade is wreaking non-stop havoc throughout the country,” said Rehman.

-Eric Holthaus

What you need to know, currently.

Climate change will not affect everyone equally — both domestically and internationally. Currently fellow Anna Abraham has a story up on how developing nations and small island states are working to bring Loss and Damage finance to the forefront of the conversation.

"In response to climate disasters, vulnerable communities rely on adaptation measures (eg. building flood defenses such as embankments) to survive; but these efforts can only go so far. Based on existing emission trends, climate change has dramatically increased the number of extreme weather events, making many disasters completely unavoidable. The social and fiscal impacts of these unavoidable events are referred to as 'loss and damage.'"

It is well established that countries in the Global South are disproportionately affected by climate change. The Global North is historically responsible for an excess of 92 percent of emissions. Countries in the South, including India and China, are still well within the boundary of their fair share of global emissions."

Click here to read the full story!