ISLAMABAD: As agriculture in Pakistan contributes about 20 percent of the total GDP and employs more than 40 percent of the workforce, the country is more sensitive to global warming, an Asian Development Bank study said yesterday.

According to the study, “Building climate resilience in the agriculture of Asia and the Pacific”, around 23 percent of the population lives below the poverty line of $1.25, which directly affects communities’ ability to cope with climate change”. Furthermore, only one quarter of the country’s land is amble, and 80 percent of this land depends on irrigation and faces serious land and water degradation.

The impact of climate change on Asia and Pacific’s agriculture sector will pose a significant development challenge for the 21st century. Developing countries in Asia and the Pacific are likely to face the highest reductions in agricultural potential in the world due to climate change. As a result, climate change will place an additional burden on efforts to meet long-term development goals in Asia and the Pacific. Slow agricultural productivity growth, declining income growth and problems of maintaining food security pose challenges to many countries in the region.