Nature's fury wreaks havoc

The nature is wreaking havoc around the world. Pakistan has been ravaged by worst floods in 80 years that have killed more than 1,600 people and according to UN estimates more than 14 million have been affected. Deluge has also resulted in heavy loss of human lives and property in parts of China and India.

Whereas in Russia, the heat wave sweeping across the country has triggered forest fires that have killed more than 50 people with the worst smog enveloping the capital Moscow, forcing people to don protective masks against pollution over six times higher than safe levels.

Across the Atlantic the situation is also no different. New York has experienced a thick tropical heat and humidity, forcing authorities to set up public cooling centres with black-outs becoming common.

It doesn't require one to be a rocket scientist to know what forces are at work behind such devastating calamities. We're already going through the hottest year in history as evidenced by large-scale calamities hitting us with a greater frequency.

This devastation has dealt a body blow to economic development and food security of millions of people.

In Pakistan, the flooding has washed away homes, infrastructure and crops. In Punjab province, known as the bread basket of Pakistan, more than one million acres of crops have been destroyed. Russia, the world's third wheat exporter, has banned grain exports until the year end amid the worst drought to hit the country in decades.

These events have raised concerns of a repeat of the 2008 food crisis, when record prices sparked protests from Haiti to the Philippines. According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation, a greater frequency of droughts and floods, one of the signs of climate change could be particularly bad for agriculture.

All this reinforces the view that the world is not doing enough to tackle climate change. The irony is that despite seeing the devastating effects of climate change, no progress has been made towards achieving global consensus on curbing greenhouse gas emissions. Last week's global climate talks in Bonn failed to produce any concrete moves.

In fact, whatever progress was made at last year's Copenhagen summit has been nullified amid rich and poor countries exchanging charges of reneging on agreements they made last year to contain greenhouse gases.

EU's climate action commissioner Connie Hedegaard said: "This imbalance is not helpful and could seriously endanger the prospects of securing the successful outcome the world needs from the Cancun climate conference next December," she warned.

It's time for both developed and developing countries to come together and agree on steps to tackle this issue which is threatening the future of mankind.

What is happening in Pakistan and Russia should serve as a severe warning to all that if we're found wanting on the issue of climate change, it will trigger the damage of humongous proportion which will be impossible to reverse. Instead of wasting time in accusations and counter-accusations, the world must act now and take firm steps before it's too late.