The climate crisis In Pakistan poses a major threat to the job market by 2070. Massive jobs could be lost due to climate change- Asian Development Bank’s- ADB Climate Report Pakistan
The recent Asian Development Bank (ADB) Asia-Pacific Climate Report 2024 report showing the Asian climate scenario seems to provide a rather dark picture for the future of Pakistan’s natural resources, its economy and its workforce. The climate change factor has introduced a new level of challenge to this fight where not only sources of income but the very sustainability of the industries that many Pakistani workers depend upon is at stake.
The thing important about the ADB report is the severe risk to Pakistan’s natural resources which is a pillar of our economy and responsible for millions of Workers. Workers from agriculture, Farmers, fishers, foresters and construction are among the worst affected by this as temperatures rise, water becomes difficult to find and natural ecosystems deteriorate.
Such workers, who may already have unstable jobs, are on the receiving end of climate fluctuations, drought, floods, and impacts which negatively affect both their earnings and lives.
Pakistan is expected to face the highest loss of 10.4 % of its Gross Domestic Product-GDP due to extreme heat, including an alarming thirty-nine per cent of labour productivity losses per annum. By 2070, the Climate Crisis Could Cause Massive Job Losses in Pakistan.
For the worker, this decline in productivity is not something that has been witnessed on the news or read in a book but something that potentially could befall him at the workplace. As the temperatures rise, the outdoor and enclosed work environments such as construction sites, factories, and other industries, are deadly for workers. Extreme temperatures complicate work environments as workers suffer high temperatures affecting their heat shatter point leading to heat strokes and other heat complaints.
It is not economics lost here, but human life which is at stake, clearly requiring both the use of legislation and organizational change.
As unions, we should be pushing for workplace conditions where access to clean water, shaded breaks and modified working hours are granted. The government and the industries must look at these protections as equally important as business or infrastructure assets since workers’ health can define success.
For many years as trade unionists or workers activists, we have campaigned and continue to campaign for rights that accrue dignity, protection and equality to workers. The ADB report is not an outlook or projection, it is an appeal for change for everyone from governments to Employers, Workers and trade unions.
Government should realize that workers are critical stakeholders in this fight, and develop policies that place equality and climate change mitigation at the heart. In this way, our economy and, more importantly, every worker, on which Pakistan’s strength lies and depends, will be saved.
