The “Pakistan Climate Change Portal” is an online repository of Pakistan-specific knowledge on the subject of climate change. It has been developed by the Civil Society Coalition for Climate Change (CSCCC), a registered consortium of civil society organizations working for climate action in Pakistan, and made possible with financial assistance from Heinrich Boll Stiftung and European Union.
The Pakistan Climate Change Portal (www.climateinfo.pk) 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, et
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.