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Awareness of Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation at Local Level in Punjab, Pakistan

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Balanced Urban Development: Options and Strategies for Liveable Cities

Part of the book series: Water Science and Technology Library ((WSTL,volume 72))

Abstract

Climate change awareness is an imperative to achieve sustainability in developing countries. Lack of awareness is a significant barrier to climate change adaptation in developing countries. Raising climate change awareness at the local level is critical for Pakistan as climate change impacts are exacerbating the number and extent of disasters in this disaster-prone country. Pakistan’s vulnerability to climate change impacts is very high (ranked 12th in the world). This research assesses the awareness of climate change impacts among the local planning officials in Punjab, Pakistan. The research contextualises its findings in the context of Pakistan’s resilience to deal with the adverse impacts of climate change given its unique and unusual set of socio-political circumstances. The findings of this chapter are based on a detailed survey conducted with local planning officials of Lahore, Pakistan. The survey explores the level of awareness of climate change, its causes and impacts in Pakistan. The survey and subsequent analysis in particular focuses on the potential role of use of Geographical Information System (GIS) in raising climate change awareness.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Engineering & Technology Lahore, Lahore, Pakistan

    Zareen Shahid

  2. Geographies and Urban Studies Department, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia

    Awais Piracha

Authors
  1. Zareen Shahid
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  2. Awais Piracha
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Correspondence to Awais Piracha .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Science and Health, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW, Australia

    Basant Maheshwari

  2. Institute of Technology, University of Moratuwa, Moratuwa, Sri Lanka

    Bhadranie Thoradeniya

  3. Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Texas A & M University, College Station, TX, USA

    Vijay P. Singh

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Shahid, Z., Piracha, A. (2016). Awareness of Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation at Local Level in Punjab, Pakistan. In: Maheshwari, B., Thoradeniya, B., Singh, V.P. (eds) Balanced Urban Development: Options and Strategies for Liveable Cities. Water Science and Technology Library, vol 72. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28112-4_25

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