Awareness of Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation at Local Level in Punjab, Pakistan

Abstract

Climate change awareness is an imperative to achieve sustainability in developing countries. Lack of awareness is a signifi cant barrier to climate change adaptation in developing countries. Raising climate change awareness at the local level is critical for Pakistan as climate change impacts are exacerbating the number and extent of disasters in this disaster-prone country. Pakistan’s vulnerability to climate change impacts is very high (ranked 12th in the world). This research assesses the awareness of climate change impacts among the local planning offi cials in Punjab, Pakistan. The research contextualises its fi ndings in the context of Pakistan’s resilience to deal with the adverse impacts of climate change given its unique and unusual set of socio-political circumstances. The fi ndings of this chapter are based on a detailed survey conducted with local planning offi cials of Lahore, Pakistan. The survey explores the level of awareness of climate change, its causes and impacts in Pakistan. The survey and subsequent analysis in particular focuses on the potential role of use of Geographical Information System (GIS) in raising climate change awareness.