Climate change is real, and the current situation in Pakistan is just a preview of what's to come in the region and other parts of the world.
In terms of its eco capacity, India is among the most overpopulated countries in the world, and the impact of climate change in India will likely be worse than other nations in Asia with the possible exception of Bangladesh.
India is ranked 33rd and Pakistan 39th among the most overcrowded nations of the world by Overpopulation Index published by the Optimum Population Trust based in the United Kingdom. The index measures overcrowding based on the size of the population and the resources available to sustain it.
According to LA Times, Bundelkhand region in central India is among the nation's most impoverished areas, and the problem is exacerbated by climate change and environmental mismanagement, they say, suggesting that ecological degradation and global warming are changing human life in more ways than just elevated sea levels and melting glaciers.
"Before, a bad year would lead to a good year," said Bharat Dogra, a fellow at New Delhi's Institute of Social Sciences specializing in the Bundelkhand region. "Now climate change is giving us seven or eight bad years in a row, putting local people deeper and deeper in debt. I expect the situation will only get worse."
An estimated 200,000 Indian farmers have ended their lives since 1997, including many in this area, largely because of debt.
A 2007 study of 13 Bundelkhand villages found that up to 45% of farming families had forfeited their land, and in extreme cases some were forced into indentured servitude. Tractor companies, land mafia and bankers routinely collude, encouraging farmers to take loans they can't afford, a 2008 report by India's Supreme Court found, knowing they'll default and be forced to sell their land.
What is needed now is a special climate change fund accessible by nations and peoples who will inevitably be the victims of the impact of quickening climate change in the next several decades.
In the meanwhile, people of goodwill around the world should do what they can by contributing funds through established charities, or by volunteering to alleviate the extraordinary suffering of over 14 million Pakistanis ravaged by the great deluge of this century.
Haq's Musings: Climate Change Worsens Poverty in India
Haq's Musings: South Asia's Declining Resources, Rising Consumption