UN Links Pakistan Floods to Climate Change

UNITED NATIONS (Aug. 20) -- Pakistan is awash with the worst flooding in more than a century; Russia fights wildfires stemming from unprecedented high temperatures; China faces mudslides of an intensity unseen in decades. For many scientists and political leaders, the confluence of these weather catastrophes amounts to tragic evidence that climate change is not just a future concern but a present danger.

"Climate change with all its severity and unpredictability has become a reality for 170 million Pakistanis," Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Pakistan's foreign minister, told the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday. "The present situation in Pakistan reconfirms our extreme vulnerability to the adverse impacts of climate change."

Noting that climate change also "complicates the reconstruction and rehabilitation scenario in Pakistan," Qureshi added that "nature has made a graphic endorsement to strengthen the case for a fair and equitable outcome" in now stalled climate change negotiations.

Trucks are stranded on main highway flooded by water in Baseera near Multan, Pakistan on Friday.

Khalid Tanveer, AP

Trucks are stranded on a flooded highway in Baseera, Pakistan, on Friday.

The U.N.'s unanimous resolution to strengthen emergency relief to Pakistan noted that the unprecedented floods reflected "the adverse impact of climate change and the growing vulnerability of countries to climate change."

Scientists are generally more circumspect than politicians on that link, given the very real distinction between extreme weather and climate change. As AOL News' weather reporter Paul Yeager has pointed out, "Global warming cannot be refuted by a year of widespread record cold or proven by a year of widespread record warmth."

In its 2007 report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a scientific body created by the U.N., concluded that "it is very likely that hot extremes, heat waves and heavy precipitation events will continue to become more frequent."

IPCC chief R.K. Pachauri told Inter Press Service that while it would be scientifically incorrect to link any single set of events with human-induced climate change, "the floods of the kind that hit Pakistan may become more frequent and more intense in the future in this and other parts of the world."

Earlier this month, the World Meteorological Organization made a similarly qualified assessment. "While a longer time range is required to establish whether an individual event is attributable to climate change, the sequence of current events matches IPCC projections of more frequent and more intense extreme weather events due to global warming," it said.

In a recent interview with The New York Times, WMO director Ghassem Asrar said that higher Atlantic Ocean temperatures contributed to the intense monsoon rains that precipitated the flooding in Pakistan. "There's no doubt that clearly the climate change is contributing, a major contributing factor," Asrar said.

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Misery in Pakistan

A flood survivor carrying relief goods walks past toppled vehicles in Muzaffargarh district, Punjab province, Pakistan, Thursday, Aug. 19, 2010. Weeks after massive downpours first battered northern Pakistan, submerging tens of thousands of square miles, killing about 1,500 people and leaving millions homeless, those floodwaters are still sweeping downriver and through the south, adding one more layer of misery to people long accustomed to hardship. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Misery in Pakistan

A Pakistani man reaches out from behind a truck during the distribution of relief goods for flood victims at Muzaffargarh district, Punjab province, Pakistan, Thursday, Aug. 19, 2010. Weeks after massive downpours first battered northern Pakistan, submerging tens of thousands of square miles, killing about 1,500 people and leaving millions homeless, those floodwaters are still sweeping downriver and through the south, adding one more layer of misery to people long accustomed to hardship. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Misery in Pakistan

Flood survivors negotiate a flooded road at Muzaffargarh, in central Pakistan on Thursday, Aug. 19, 2010. The floods have affected 20 million people and about one-fifth of Pakistan's territory, straining its civilian government as it struggles against al-Qaida and Taliban violence. Aid groups and the United Nations have complained foreign donors have not been quick or generous enough given the scale of the disaster. (AP Photo/Khalid Tanveer)

Misery in Pakistan

A flood affected woman peeks through a tent as another girl stands by in Nowshera, Pakistan, Wednesday, Aug. 18, 2010. The floodwaters that have ravaged Pakistan will not recede fully until the end of August, the country's top meteorologist said, a grim forecast for the more than 20 million people living homeless or otherwise affected by the deluge. (AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad)

Misery in Pakistan

Flood-displaced Pakistanis receive food at a distribution point at an Air force relief camp in Sukkur on August 18, 2010. The Organisation of the Islamic Conference on August 18 called on member states and the international community to supply urgent aid to Pakistan, which is grappling with devastating floods. TOPSHOTS/AFP PHOTO/Rizwan TABASSUM (Photo credit should read RIZWAN TABASSUM/AFP/Getty Images)

Misery in Pakistan

A Pakistani flood survivor carries his son as he evacuate sthe flooded area of Shah Jamal on August 18, 2010. Pakistan faces economic catastrophe after the devastating floods that have wiped out farmland and ruined infrastructure, with feared losses of billions of dollars likely to set back growth by years. TOPSHOTS/AFP PHOTO/Banaras KHAN (Photo credit should read BANARAS KHAN/AFP/Getty Images)

Misery in Pakistan

A Pakistani boy shouts to attract attention from a man handing out relief goods at a camp flood victims in Muzaffargarh, Punjab province, Pakistan on Wednesday Aug. 18, 2010. Militants exploiting the flooding chaos in Pakistan clashed with police overnight, authorities said, as desperately needed international donations for the millions of victims picked up pace three weeks after the deluge began. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Misery in Pakistan

A flood survivor throws a water bottle on a passing truck as they climb on a truck donating relief goods to victims along a flooded area in Muzaffargarh, Punjab province, Pakistan, Wednesday Aug. 18, 2010. Militants exploiting the flooding chaos in Pakistan clashed with police overnight, authorities said, as desperately needed international donations for the millions of victims picked up pace three weeks after the deluge began. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Misery in Pakistan

TOPSHOTS Pakistani flood survivors walk in the flooded area of Shah Jamal on August 18, 2010. Pakistan faces economic catastrophe after the devastating floods that have wiped out farmland and ruined infrastructure, with feared losses of billions of dollars likely to set back growth by years. AFP PHOTO/Banaras KHAN (Photo credit should read BANARAS KHAN/AFP/Getty Images)

Misery in Pakistan

TOPSHOTS A Pakistani girl walks through the rubble of homes destroyed by floods in PirSabaaq village on August 18, 2010. Flood-ravaged Pakistan said it has received international aid of 300 million dollars but the flow of money remained slow, and survivors lashed out at Islamabad for failing to move faster to help. AFP PHOTO/A. MAJEED (Photo credit should read A Majeed/AFP/Getty Images)

Misery in Pakistan

The WMO has also found that the strong monsoon rains led to the highest water levels in 110 years in the Indus River in the northern part of Pakistan, based on past records available from 1929. Pakistan's government has been criticized for overlooking flood advisories issued since mid-June by the Pakistan Meteorological Department, which also warned about the need of emergency relief as the downpour continued.

Philanthropist George Soros, who has contributed $5.5 million to Pakistan's relief efforts, said that while aid was vital at this stage, it was also imperative to address the "root causes" of the natural disaster. "We have to come to terms with the fact that they are in fact connected, that there is climate change," he said, speaking at the Asia Society in New York on Thursday.

The floods in Pakistan have claimed more than 1,400 lives and affected the lives of as many as 20 million people across one-fifth of Pakistan's territory.

Climate change has also been cited for extreme temperatures and resulting wildfires in Russia. The Russian Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring found that July 2010 was Moscow's warmest month since the beginning of modern meteorological records 130 years ago.

Like Qureshi, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sounded an alarm about climate change. "Unfortunately, what is happening now in our central regions is evidence of this global climate change, because we have never in our history faced such weather conditions in the past," Medvedev said. "This means that we need to change the way we work, change the methods that we used in the past."

Meanwhile, hopes are fading that nations can agree on a global treaty to combat climate change this year. Before last year's climate change conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, the U.N.'s slogan was "seal the deal." But in the wake of that conference's ambiguous result, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says he hopes for a "realistic result" at the climate meeting in Cancun, Mexico, later this year.