No. 115/2023

BEING BETTER PREPARED FOR THE NEXT DISASTER Floods and drought threaten the lives of millions of people in Pakistan. Better preparedness as well as social change could alleviate the situation. The real, everyday meaning of climate change becomes drastically clear when Faisal Abbas talks about his native country, Pakistan. Within four months in 2022, extreme drought was followed by the worst flooding since records began. The flooding alone claimed more than 1,700 lives; eight million people lost their homes. Since then, agriculture, the source of income for almost half the population, has lain in ruins. Food prices have rocketed. “Within days they trebled or increased fivefold,” Faisal Abbas reports. The economist at the National University of Sciences & Technology in Islamabad continues, “For people who hardly have enough to live on in the first place, this has dramatic results. Many are starving.” Through his research, Abbas wants to mitigate situations like this. He specialises in developmental topics such as food security, health, especially of mothers and children, as well as gender-specific oppression. “During my doctorate at the University of Bonn 15 years ago, it was the first time I experienced how well women do their jobs,” he reports. “In my native culture, I only knew that traditionally artists to work on a common topic. In summer 2022, Miller-Idriss led the programme on “Social Cohesion”. WHEN COHESION IS DAMAGING “One important point that emerged in the discussions was that – notwithstanding the importance of social cohesion – you can also have too much of it,” says Miller-Idriss. On the one hand, she states, social cohesion is currently under acute threat from conspiracy stories, propaganda and disinformation. On the other, too much homogeneity in a society can also be damaging because society thrives on the non-conformance and diversity of various groups. “Social cohesion must integrate minorities without wanting to force them to assimilate,” the researcher emphasises. Text MARLENE HALSER PROFESSOR DR FAISAL ABBAS is an economist at the National University of Sciences & Technology in Islamabad, Pakistan. In 2017/18, he was a Georg Forster Research Fellow at the University of Göttingen. Faisal Abbas advises the government of Pakistan as a member of the Committee on Key Economic and Policy Issues as well as on the Health and Well-Being, Food and Agriculture Sector Committee. Photos: private › 23 HUMBOLDT KOSMOS 115/2023