ISLAMABAD, Sep 11 (APP):Soaring land degradation in Pakistan threatens the country’s efforts for achieving food security, stemming rural-urban migration and land-related conflicts, said Mohammad Saleem, spokesperson Ministry of Climate Change Ministry.
Land degradation, among other factors, caused by deforestation, desertification, soil erosion, salinity and water-logging and unsustainable intensive agricultural practices and exacerbated by climate shifts had made the ecological deterioration worst, he said.
Explaining adverse impacts of climate shifts on degrading lands in the country, he said climate change was further making it harder to grow enough food for an expanding population at a time when land was being degraded because of deforestation, unsustainable crop-growing and grazing styles.
Pakistan is ranked among the top ten countries “most affected by global warming-induced extreme weather events”, according to the Global Climate Risk Index, released by Germanwatch, an international public policy research body.