Link to article: https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/04/asia/pakistan-punjab-climate-diplomacy-india-smog-intl-hnk/index.html
Punjab, Pakistan, has called for a cross-border collaboration with India to discuss a solution to the growing air pollution crisis that is affecting both countries. Raja Jahangir Anwar, Punjab’s Environment Secretary has emphasized the need for a “climate diplomacy'” after the largest city in the province, Lahore, recorded a record high of pollution. The air quality in Lahore was over 1,900 which is 6 times the amount that is considered hazardous. The main reasons for the pollution is the burning of agricultural waste, coal-fired power plants, and traffic congestion. The pollution is worse during the winter time because the dry air traps the pollutants. This is a shared problem because winds carry the heavy smog that is created by northern India to eastern Pakistan. The smog the heaviest each winter due to the common practice of farmers clearing their fields by burning everything.
This article is important because the heavy amount of smog is playing a huge role in health problems, mainly respiratory related. The exposure to the air pollution has caused a large spike in respiratory diseases, lung cancer, heart disease, and strokes. The WHO (World Health Organization) has highlighted the fact that the life expectancy for millions of people in both countries involved have been shorten by years. This article can also open the eyes of farmers in India and Pakistan to try and find more eco-friendly ways to clear their fields to replace the old and eco-damaging way of just straight up burning their fields. Finding a more eco-friendly way would greatly decrease the amount of smog being produced and be a huge first step in the right direction of clearing the smog.
The Pakistani Government will most likely continue its push for regional cooperation with India. This is suggested by Punjab’s plea for cooperation with its neighbor. The Government may likely take a much stronger stance on environmental diplomacy and try to find alternate solutions for farmer to clear their fields. They also may create policies to decrease the amount of pollution from coal plants and other industrial sources. Public health campaigns will also likely start to occur with the purpose to raise awareness for the poor air quality. The Indian government will most likely be more than happy to meet with the Pakistani government because of the worsening air quality in cities such as Delhi. They would however need to balance its environmental diplomacy with its domestic priorities.
Climate change is one of the Issues of Global Cooperation. It is also a problem of shared interests known as the collective goods problem. This will be a difficult problem to solve because of national interest. India and Pakistan both want the same thing but the way that they achieve the solution will be different. India might not like Pakistanis idea to limit the amount of smog and Pakistan might not like India’s solution but they will have to compromise on the solution to this problem because this issue has affected the lives of millions of people in both countries.