• COPE31: NUST Students Secure First Position at Smart City Hackathon Held in Lahore

• COPE31: Climate Change Innovation: “Mausamnaama” is a Climate Communication Campaign Offering Climate Preparedness Solution

• COPE31: Code for Pakistan Organized the the Smart City Hackathon in Lahore for Climate Action as the City Encounters Climate Crisis

Lahore, September 19, 2026: Farwa Imran and Nisha Jalil, students of Mass Communication, Batch 2024, from NUST’s School of Social Sciences & Humanities (S3H), secured first position while representing S3H at the Smart City Hackathon in Lahore, organized by Code for Pakistan.

Background: Pakistan and the Climate Crisis

Pakistan contributes less than 1% of global greenhouse gas emissions, yet it consistently ranks among the top ten countries most vulnerable to climate change on the Global Climate Risk Index. This paradox has become a defining feature of the national conversation around climate justice. The devastating 2022 floods, which submerged nearly a third of the country and displaced over 33 million people, remain a stark reminder of how climate shocks can overwhelm infrastructure, economies, and communities with little warning.

Beyond large-scale disasters, Pakistan’s cities face a slower, grinding set of climate pressures: extreme heatwaves in Karachi and Jacobabad that push temperatures past 50°C, glacial melt in the north threatening water security downstream, erratic monsoon patterns disrupting agriculture, and rapid, often unplanned urbanization that leaves cities poorly equipped to absorb these shocks. Karachi and Lahore, in particular, regularly rank among the most polluted and climate-stressed cities globally, with smog, flooding, and water scarcity now recurring seasonal crises rather than rare events.

In this environment, climate resilience is no longer a distant policy goal — it is an immediate, everyday concern for millions of Pakistanis. Experts increasingly agree that technical and infrastructural fixes must be paired with public awareness and behavioral preparedness, since even the best early-warning systems and urban plans fail if communities don’t know how to interpret or act on them. It is within this urgent context that platforms like the Smart City Hackathon have emerged, giving young innovators a space to design practical, locally grounded responses to the challenges their cities face.

About the Smart City Hackathon

The Smart City Hackathon, held at Lahore Garrison University on September 19, 2026, brought together students, developers, designers, entrepreneurs, researchers, urban innovators, and creative problem-solvers under one roof. Organized by Code for Pakistan, the event gave participants a platform to turn ideas into action — using technology, data, creativity, and innovation to address real-world urban problems and imagine better, more livable cities for everyone.

“Mausamnaama”: A Climate Communication Campaign

Representing NUST S3H, Farwa Imran and Nisha Jalil presented “Mausamnaama,” a climate change awareness and preparedness campaign. The project framed climate change as a defining challenge for Pakistani communities and cities, and placed particular emphasis on the role of clear, effective communication in building public awareness and preparedness. Their winning pitch reflected an understanding that technical solutions alone are not enough — communities also need accessible, culturally relevant information to prepare for and respond to climate risks.

The Role of Youth in Climate Action

Young people make up over 60% of Pakistan’s population, making them not just the demographic most exposed to the long-term consequences of climate change, but also the country’s single largest potential force for climate action. Across Pakistan, youth-led initiatives are increasingly filling gaps left by slower-moving institutional responses — from grassroots tree plantation drives and plastic-reduction campaigns to digital platforms that translate flood and heat warnings into local languages for at-risk communities.

What makes youth participation distinct is the combination of digital fluency, creative communication skills, and lived urgency. Students today have grown up amid visible climate disruption — smog-choked winters, erratic monsoons, and heat advisories are part of their everyday reality, not abstract projections. This lived experience, paired with training in fields like mass communication, design, and technology, positions young people to build solutions that are both technically sound and genuinely resonant with the communities they aim to serve.

“Mausamnaama” is a clear example of this shift. Rather than treating climate communication as an afterthought, Farwa and Nisha built it into the core of their solution — recognizing that a well-designed awareness campaign can be as critical to community resilience as any infrastructure project. Their approach reflects a broader trend among Pakistani youth: moving from climate awareness to climate action, using the specific skills and platforms available to them, whether that’s social media, campaign design, data visualization, or grassroots organizing.

Encouraging and resourcing this kind of youth-led innovation — through hackathons, university partnerships, and mentorship — is increasingly seen as essential to building a generation of changemakers equipped to confront Pakistan’s climate challenges from the ground up.

Learning Beyond the Classroom

In my view, university students should be encouraged to participate in events like these because they provide an opportunity to take classroom learning into the real world. “Our professor, Sir Rubban, taught us the Principles of Advertising and gave us the opportunity to apply the concepts we learned in class to practical situations,” the students shared.

Experiences like these show the value of giving students the freedom and trust to experiment with their ideas. When teachers trust their students and give them opportunities to grow, students can prove what they are capable of achieving.

Conclusion

Pakistan’s path through the climate crisis will not be shaped by infrastructure and policy alone — it will depend just as much on how effectively communities understand and respond to the risks they face. As extreme weather events become more frequent and severe, the space for youth-led, communication-driven solutions like “Mausamnaama” will only grow more important. The achievement of Farwa Imran and Nisha Jalil at the Smart City Hackathon is more than an individual success story; it is a signal of what’s possible when young people are given the tools, trust, and platforms to turn academic learning into real climate action — one community, one campaign at a time.