PowerPoint Presentation - Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization

2010 Pakistan Flooding

Situation:

•Inundated 1/5 of the country

•Affected 20 million people

–Killed 2,000 people

–Damaged 2 million homes

•Drowned 1 million livestock

•Damaged 6 million acres of crops

•Washed away roads and bridges

•Most devastating natural disaster in Pakistan’s history

Contributing Trends:

•In 1990, military budget was 44 times health and family planning budget, leaving population growth unchecked

•Humans and livestock stripped vegetation needed to contain rainfall

•90% of the Indus basin’s original forests are gone

•Record heat accelerated melting of Himalayan ice and snow, raising Indus levels

Photo Credit: iStockPhoto / Kmerryweather

Pakistan provides an example of how the social and environmental trends we face on a global level can converge — with dangerous consequences.