Title: Torrential rains, widespread floods, soil degradation due to climate change and role of materials in green technology therein

Abstract

Recent torrential rains and widespread floods especially in South Asian landscape and Pakistan in Particular have implications on the future shape of our planet. Apart from enormous relocation of the inhabitants, the prominent environmental impact is degradation of soil caused by the unusual gushing waters. It also results into landslides, pushing heavy stones and soil in enormous quantities to riverine and finally into the sea. According to the report of United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA), till 2nd September 2022, the numbers of destroyed houses in Pakistan due to recent heavy rains and flash floods are over 436,000 (Pakistan, 2022). 80 districts out of 160 have been declared calamity hit which means almost 50% of the total populations. This is not the end; the situation is worsening as more rains pour in and water flows down from upper parts of the country. Only in KPK Province 1,600 km of roads got destroyed out of total length of 2388 km which means 67% of the total road network. The cataclysmic floods have caused around $18 billion to country's teetering economy, wiping out more than 8 million acres of crops and displacing more than 33 million people (Pakistan’s Deadly Floods Come Amid Deluge of Crises, 2022). How much is the transportation of mud, minerals, plants, crops, animals and human-beings into the sea is yet to be calculated. The volume of water and pattern of rainfalls with which it swept away natural and manmade structures has no example in the history of Pakistan. This is the effect of roaring climate change which is under discussion for the last few decades but with cursory remedial measures. The earth surface of Pakistan, for example, will have different face when the present rising waters recede. The soil degradation in this case can include loss of organic matter, decline in soil fertility, changes in structural condition, irreparable erosions, added acidity, adversity of salinity and other effects of multiple pollutants. The question is that if it continues with the onset of yearly monsoon, then what will be the shape of our planet in few decades onward? At the same time, how would it impact the texture seawaters; obviously adverse to the present state? Does it mean that we are heading towards physical end of our planet? The questions need serious thinking and solutions for retaining the natural-balance state and shape of our planet for the future generations. Green technologies are considered environment friendly in view of its production processes and supply chain mechanism. It means clean energy production, the use of alternative fuels, and technologies that are less harmful to the environment than fossil fuels. The next question is how to implement those remedial measures including green technologies? It needs purely scientific and managerial answers; as every puzzle has a solution, so is the case of preserving the shape and state of the earth planet. With Pakistan as case study, this paper intends dilating upon soil degradation impacts of the recent floods, consequent shape of the earth surface, possible impacts of inflowing materials into the sea and remedial measure including green technologies.

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