I read this article from the excellent Earth Policy Institute (http://www.earth-policy.org/book_bytes/2012/wotech10_ss4) and I struck me that Pakistan’s environmental issues are the elephant in the room that nobody talks about.  It’s issues with terrorism are well documented, concerns about their nuclear weapons programme are frequently voiced, and even broad failings within its economic and political systems are hardly news, but this article brought home to me some very stark issues which could provide the spark to ignite the tinderbox of the other issues.  If ever there is event that is pretty much guaranteed to spark chaos, it is lack of food, and the issues raised here sound like it is a matter of “when” rather than “if” the trauma of widespread famine hits this already blighted country.  This is unlikely to end well.

Nick