The sea was once a blessing for the Pakistani city of Gwadar. But it has become a curse

Gwadar, Pakistan (AP) – There was a time when few people in the Gwadar Coastal city understood what climate change was. After A decade of extreme timeMany others do it.

The rain beat Gwadar for almost 30 consecutive hours last February. The torrents have washed the roads, the bridges and the lines of communication, briefly cutting the city of the peninsula from the rest of Pakistan. The houses resemble bombs have struck them and the drivers reveal to avoid craters where asphalt was previously.

Gwadar is in Balutchistan, an arid, mountainous and vast province in southwest Pakistan which has burning summers and harsh winters. The city, with around 90,000 people, is built on sand dunes and bordered by the Oman Sea on three sides, at a low altitude which makes it vulnerable to climate change A country that has already seen its share of disaster From there.

“It is not less than a island countries Situation, ”warned the hydrologist based in Gwadar Pazeer Ahmed. “Many low areas of the city will be partially or completely overwhelmed if the sea level continues to increase.”

The sea, formerly a blessing for the Gwadar fishing and domestic tourism sectors, has become an existential threat to life and the means of subsistence.

The warmed oceans mean larger and more powerful waves, and these waves go above by the winds of summer monsoon. The warmer air contains more humidity – About 7% more per degree Celsius (4% per degree fahrenheit) – And that means more major rain events.

“The waves have become more violent due to the increase in sea temperatures and eroded beaches,” said Abdul Rahim, Deputy Director of the Environment of the Gwadar Development Authority. “The tidal actions and models have changed. Hundreds of houses have been swept away. It is very alarming.

The melting glaciers contribute to the increase in sea level, another cause of coastal erosion. The sea level in Karachi increased by almost 8 inches (nearly 20 centimeters) between 1916 and 2016, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It is expected to increase a half-butce (about 1.3 centimeters) by 2040.

In areas near Gwadar, like Pishukan and Ganz, the waves have swallowed up mosques, schools and colonies. There are cuts in the cliffs at the Sunset Park popular picnic spot, and the rocks have cascade on the shore. The beaches run flat for tens of kilometers because there is no structure.

The authorities have built stone or concrete dikes to retain the intrusion in salt water. But they are a small solution to a massive problem, because Gwadar’s people and companies fight climate change on different fronts.

Salt water pools on government lands, brilliant salt crystals in the sun. In the district of Shado Band, the former local advisor Qadir Baksh worries about the water that infiltrates through the ground and in its short every day, run only by regular pumping. Dozens of houses have the same problem, he said.

Managers, including Ahmed and Rahim, said that changes in land use and unauthorized building aggravate floods. Residents have said that some major construction projects have destroyed traditional drainage routes.

Gwadar is the centerpiece of A huge Chinese Initiative to create a land route between its Western Xinjiang region and the Oman Sea through Gwadar. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been in the city to create a sea port, an international airport, highways and other infrastructure. The most sensitive projects, in particular the port, are closely secured by the Pakistani army, out of sight and prohibited to the public.

But there is no appropriate sewer or drainage system for residents despite a decade of foreign investment, and the porosity of Gwadar, the high water table, the rise in sea level and stronger precipitation are rocket fuel for the vulnerability of the city.

There is nowhere where the water goes.

“In the past, when it rained, the water has disappeared until 10 days later,” said Baksh. “But the rain that came last year was not a party. The water rises from the ground with such speed that it will reach the four walls of my house if we do not run the generator every day to extract it. The officials say that it is because of climate change, but, anywhere, we suffer. »»

The Gwadar fishermen’s community is also hurting. The catches are smaller, the native fish disappear and the migration models and the fishing seasons have changed, said Ahmed and Rahim. There are also flowering algae and the invasion of unwanted marine species such as power fish.

Illegal fishing and foreign trawlers are responsible for some of these things, but it is mainly sea temperatures.

People have migrated places like Dasht and Kulanch due to the water shortage. The agriculture in the surrounding areas of Gwadar is disappearing due to the loss of agricultural land and death of cattle, according to the inhabitants. This is part of a broader scheme in which farmers in Pakistan see a drop in crop yields and an increase in crop diseases due to climatic extremes, in particular floods, droughts and heat waves, according to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

“There are waves of heat and dust storms in Gwadar,” said Ahmed. “But the main impact of climate change here is that there is too much water and not enough. If nothing is done to solve this problem, we will have no choice but to withdraw. »»

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Associated Press data journalist Mary Katherine Wildeman has contributed.

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