Last week, a video went viral in Pakistan showing a reporter in the middle of a stream reporting about massive floods triggered by heavy rains. It is being put forth as an example of what reporting must not be like.

Let's leave the discussion for some other time on how futile it is to risk one's life to report a story like that, and let's assess the damage untimely rains have caused in the country. At least 50 people have died in the country, and houses and crops have been destroyed in the northwestern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, the southwestern Balochistan and the central Punjab provinces. Only days ago, Balochistan was hit by a severe drought. Not that the southeastern province of Sindh is safe from the vagaries of climate change-induced calamity.

Amar Guriro, an environment journalist, had recently tweeted: "When Rajanpur, Punjab was hit by floods, people in Badin, Sindh were protesting against acute water shortage. In Rajanpur, wheat [is] destroyed by floods, in Badin, by water shortage. We really need to take climate change seriously."

Of course! The floods usually hit Pakistan in July-August monsoon season. But the untimely rains and flash floods are a new normal now, courtesy global warming. Pakistan's annual average temperature has increased by roughly 0.5 degree Celsius in the last 50 years, increasing the number of heat wave days per year by nearly fivefold in the last three decades, according to a recent Asian Development Bank report.

A 2018 World Bank report, Pakistan's Hotspots - The Impact of Temperature and Precipitation Changes on Living Standards, says that by 2050, annual average temperatures are projected to increase to 2.5°C under the climate 'sensitive scenario' (meaning that if some collective action is taken to limit greenhouse gas emissions) and up 3.0°C under the carbon 'intensive scenario' (or without any serious actions). About 49 million people live in locations that will become 'moderate hotspots' by 2050.

Pakistan, listed as the seventh most vulnerable country affected by climate change, has in the last 20 years experienced around 150 freak weather incidents such as flash floods, smog in winter, forest fires in summer, melting glaciers, heat waves and landsides costing its economy about $2 billion. Climate change has badly affected the agriculture, crop cycle, and production of rice, wheat and cotton.

The Asian Development Bank report titled Climate Profile of Pakistan warns that the country might experience increased variability of river flows due to an increased variability of precipitation and the melting of glaciers. Climatic change might potentially have various negative effects on the country's farm productivity and water availability, increase coastal erosion and seawater incursion and frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, the report says.

The situation requires Pakistan to chalk out a strategy focused on a low-carbon and climate-compatible development, and adaptation, especially in agriculture. A study titled Climate Smart Agriculture: an approach for sustainable food security suggests use of integrated renewable energy technologies for farming like windmills, solar panels, pyrolysis units and bio energy-operated water pumps; resource conserving technologies (RCTs) like zero tillage permitting the farmers to plant wheat soon after rice or cotton harvest to avoid warm weather detrimental for grain filling; varieties tolerant to heat, drought and salinity; differentiation of regions and crops that are prone to climate change for their repositioning to more appropriate areas; the weather forecast and early warning systems; use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) for planning the contingency programmes; and computer-aided crop simulation models to find out the possible risk of climate variation on future crop yields, climate smart agriculture development and mitigation procedures; and a change in the way of use of land, water, soil nutrients and genetic resources management by climate smart agriculture techniques.

True that weather uncertainties - heavy rains this year, a drought next year, and a normal year after - may make it difficult for the farmers to change their sowing time and harvesting patterns. They may also lack information on strategies, and resources to adapt to climate change. Farmers need help in mitigating adverse effects of climate change. Their livelihoods are at stake. Smallholders should have access to credit and government extension services to ease their choice of farm adaptation options.

The disaster management authorities equipped with modern technologies should be functional in districts. Farmers in Pakistan need help and support to weather the storm of uncertainty.

Waqar Mustafa is a multimedia journalist and commentator based in Pakistan

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