As Ban Ki Moon said in September 2007 “ Given the nature and magnitude of the challenge, national action alone is insufficient. No nation can address this challenge on its own. No region can insulate itself from these climate changes. That is why we need to confront climate change within a global framework, one that guarantees the highest level of international cooperation”

Asian countries including Pakistan face the greatest risk from severe climate change, which could force millions of people to flee their homes and trigger environmental migration, according to an Asian Development Bank report.

The report titled "Climate Change and Migration in Asia and the Pacific" says Bangladesh, India, Maldives and Pakistan face the greatest risk, but Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Japan, China and South Korea are also especially vulnerable.

Public opinion in  Pakistan in recent years has largely disapproved of how the Government of Pakistan totally ignored the problem of climate change. China, the U.S. and India seem the most reluctant to sign up to the EU’s “road map” pointing toward the next climate treaty after the limits in the current one expire next year, have refused to commit to legal targets, raising the prospect that no country will have targets to cut emissions after 2012

From the World Bank commissioned report in 2009: “Public attitudes toward climate change: findings from a multi-country poll”,comes this interesting look at country wide attitudes to climate change.

So it's interesting to look at how these views affected country attitudes at Durban recently.

  Pakistan is one of the countries that has been severely hit in recent years by the disastrous effects of climate change including flash floods and devastating earthquakes. Public opinion looks set to remain far ahead of governmental action here.

Naseem Sheikh is a guest writer for Celsias and lives in Lahore, Pakistan