The
Pakistan Climate Change Portal (http://climateinfo.pk/) is an open-access online
repository of knowledge and research on the subject of climate change specific to Pakistan. It
has been developed by the Civil Society Coalition for Climate Change (CSCCC), and made possible with financial assistance from Heinrich Boll
Stiftung and European Union.
The Pakistan
Climate Change Portal has two major components: firstly, an online knowledge
repository which serves as a digital climate library and contains hundreds of
public and private sector, national and international reports and publications
related to climate change in Pakistan, including research paper and reports, sector
specific international donor organization studies, government policy documents,
sector analyses and assessment reports, and numerical and scientific
information. This online knowledge repository is logically categorized and
comes bundled with a powerful search engine through which the knowledge can be
accessed by focus area, thematic sector, geographical location, publishing
date, data type, file type, specific keywords, etc.
The second
component is the maps and visualizations components for climate indicators
which have been divided into three sections, namely, Climate, Impacts, and
Vulnerabilities, which have been further divided into subsections and
subcategories. These three sections graphically illustrate data for over fifty
climate change related variables like temperature and rainfall, agriculture,
health, forest cover, GHG emissions, GDP, population, natural disasters, water
resources, health, and many others. Additionally, a comprehensive global
climate change overview has been given including latest scientific consensus,
global vital signs, major causes, effects, and evidences of climate change.
The Pakistan
Climate Change Portal is poised to play its role as a highly useful source of
knowledge and information on climate change and the broad range of
socioeconomic and development indicators affected by the impacts of a changing
climate. Pakistan is one of the countries of the world ranked most vulnerable
to the devastating effects of climate change and such a resource will help all
stakeholders and users, including policy makers, government, academia,
researchers, students, concerned departments of the private sector, and even
laypersons to better understand the subject as well as serve as a platform for
the dissemination of knowledge, research and hard facts and statistical data on
climate change which is the need of the hour for evidence based policy making
and action.