By Arsalan Ali ISLAMABAD, May 31, (INP-WealthPK): The ruthless deforestation and unplanned expansion of cities have been termed the main causes of heatwaves in the urban areas of Pakistan. An expert told WealthPK that developed counties are mainly responsible for climate change and global warming. “The biggest reason for climate change is the harmful emission of greenhouse gases by developed countries,” said Dr Ghulam Rasul, former director general of the Pakistan Meteorological Department. He said that the ruthless cutting of trees was also impacting climate and water resources. Most of the greenhouse gases emission was caused by developed countries of the world but trees were chopped down in developing countries like Pakistan too for firewood or expansion of cities. Dr Ghulam Rasul said that deforestation caused an increase in temperature. “Our cities were smaller a few decades ago. Now they have expanded due to an influx of people from rural areas as a result of urbanisation. Trees are cut for construction of residential and commercial buildings,” he added. He said that spacious and tall buildings in cities absorbed the heat during the daytime and released it at night. “That’s why the effect of heatwaves is felt more severely in cities. When the cities were smaller, they had green areas to keep the environment clean,” he added. Dr Ghulam Rasul said that the number of cars on the roads was far less half a century ago in the country. There were also fewer factories and mills in the country 50 years ago. “Now emission of carbon dioxide from cars and smoke from factories has increased manifolds, polluting the environment and increasing temperature,” he added. He said that agricultural land and greenbelts were turned into blacktopped roads and concrete buildings that absorbed heat. However, the contribution of Pakistan to harmful emissions was nominal as compared to developed countries. Dr Ghulam Rasul said that glaciers in Pakistan were melting fast due to global warming. “It will imprint negative impacts on our ecosystem as well and our water resources. The erratic monsoon patterns have affected our water reservoirs. The harvest of cotton has started in Sindh and Southern Punjab. The limited quantity of stored water is going to affect the underground water table as tube wells are used to irrigate crops,” he added. He said that glaciers were tantamount to frozen dams. “These glaciers are a great gift for us but their speedy melting can cause floods. Gilgit-Baltistan and Chitral have more than 7,000 glaciers. Now 17 percent of these glaciers have been melted due to heatwaves,” he added. The expert called for planting mangrove trees in a large number and cultivating such crops that require less water besides adopting modern irrigation methods to control heatwaves. He told WealthPK that Pakistan should devise an effective strategy to get funds from international donor agencies to help control heatwaves in the urban areas of the country.