Fw: H-ASIA: New Report on Pakistan's Nontraditional Security Threats (NBR)

----- Original Message -----
From: "Frank Conlon" <conlon@U.WASHINGTON.EDU>
To: <H-ASIA@H-NET.MSU.EDU>
Sent: Friday, October 14, 2011 2:38 AM
Subject: H-ASIA: New Report on Pakistan's Nontraditional Security Threats
(NBR)

> H-ASIA
> October 13, 2011
>
> New Report on Pakistan's Nontraditional Security Threats (NBR)
> ***********************************************************************
> From: Tracy Timmons-Gray <ttimmonsgray@nbr.org>
>
> Dear H-Asia members,
>
> NBR just released a new report that examines Pakistan's nontraditional
> security challenges including climate change
> and water security. The full report will be free to access for a limited
> time. A link to the report and a summary are below.
>
> "Nontraditional Security Threats in Pakistan" (NBR Special Report, October
> 2011)
>
> By Ali Tauqeer Sheikh, Leadership for Environment and Development (LEAD)
>
> Link: http://m.nbr.org/qPDEuA
>
>
> SUMMARY
>
> This essay examines Pakistan's most significant nontraditional security
> challenges, including climate change, increasing population and
> urbanization, food security, and water security.
>
> Main Findings
>
> - Climate change will negatively affect human activities and livelihoods
> in Pakistan through increasingly frequent extreme weather events and
> changes in temperature and precipitation. A rise in extreme weather has
> already led to an alarming increase in the number of people killed,
> injured, or made homeless.
>
> - Pakistan's large population and high growth rate adversely affect all
> aspects of society, the economy, and the environment. Population growth
> creates and exacerbates vulnerabilities by endangering basic civic
> amenities, leading to a lack of clean water and space for housing and
> ultimately burdening society.
>
> - Growth in agricultural productivity has broadly kept pace with
> accelerating demand. However, medium-term food security challenges will
> become far more daunting if immediate attention is not paid to managing
> water resources, both underground and in the Indus Basin river system.
>
> - Water security is the most serious challenge for Pakistan due to several
> factors, particularly the increasing pressure of population and
> urbanization, massive expansion of tube-well irrigation, reduced levels of
> precipitation caused by climate change, and the accelerated retreat of
> Himalayan glaciers.
>
> Policy Implications
>
> - Pakistan can mitigate the adverse effects of natural disasters through
> early warning systems, technological advances in building and
> infrastructure construction, improved sanitation systems, increased
> disaster preparedness, and an organized health sector response.
>
> - Expanding and enhancing the information and knowledge base on climate
> change, as well as mapping vulnerabilities, trends in internal migration,
> and the incidence of disease, can help create adaptive measures for
> reducing the effects of climate change.
>
> - The successful implementation of mechanisms to address nontraditional
> security issues will require that South Asian countries work together to
> adopt ecosystem-wide approaches that incorporate transboundary strategies.
>
> Read Now: http://m.nbr.org/qPDEuA
>
>
>
> Tracy Timmons-Gray
> The National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR)
> Seattle, WA
>
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