Pakistan is amongst the top ten hotspot countries when it comes to climate change but one rarely realises this alarming fact despite the profusion of varied media outlets across the country. The media in many other countries has begun to draw more attention to the causes of climate change, and what can be done to effectively contend with its impending challenges. There is no reason why Pakistani media cannot do the same.
A study of media coverage of the unprecedented flooding during the monsoons in 2022, conducted by the Centre for Excellence in Journalism, and the Institute for Research, Advocacy and Development, demonstrates how Pakistani media outlets remain oblivious to the reality of climate impacts. This study analysed coverage by three mainstream news outlets and noted how only one of these outlets attributed climate change as a reason for the 2022 floods, and that too in just 21% of its flood-related stories.
Located on the Indus Basin floodplain, Pakistan is vulnerable to flooding in any case. However, climate change is altering weather patterns resulting in more frequent, severe and unpredictable patterns of floods and droughts.
According to government figures, the unprecedented flooding in 2022 affected 33 million people in 84 districts and caused damages to the tune of $15 billion. The lackluster donor support, alongside Pakistan’s own dismal economic performance, meant that the government was unable to address the plight of people whose lives were devastated by this last major flooding event. The country’s resilience to future flooding events has not been significantly bolstered either.
Flooding is not the only climate-related problem for us. WWF-Pakistan estimates that over the past three decades, seawater intrusion has reached over 1 km inland. Around one and a half million fisherfolk and other poor people have migrated away from the coastline due to seawater intrusion which has contaminated their underground freshwater supplies. Yet, scant attention has been given to this escalating problem by the media.
For most Pakistani media outlets, climate change is not deemed important enough to even merit a separate beat. The petty political wranglings of powerful politicians usually take precedence over climate threats which are directly impacting the lives of millions of people daily. Consider, for instance, climate impacts on health. The extensive flooding in 2010 and then again in 2022 led to spikes in hepatitis, diarrhea, cholera, typhoid and food poisoning. Recurrent crop damage due to flooding and droughts worsens malnutrition and stunting.
The implications of water stress on poor households, on the livelihoods of poorer farmers who lack sufficient access to water, and on women and girls in poorer households who must spend long hours collecting water, also remains largely ignored by both the print and electronic media.
The scant attention paid to climate issues focuses on dramatic events such as disasters. Yet, the journalists assigned the task of covering these problems also have other assignments, and they often lack the know-how and time needed to do in-depth research concerning climate related stresses.
However, it is encouraging to see some donor agencies begin supporting efforts to draw greater media attention to climate change. The publication of ‘Pakistan: On the Frontline of Climate Change’ which aims to give journalists a much-needed overview of the impact, governance and legal frameworks related to climate change, is an example of such an effort. However, media houses must themselves also commit to building in-house capacity to understand climate change implications for Pakistan, and to identify means to deal with them.
Journalists must not only play a greater role in creating awareness about climate change, but they can also act as watchdogs to pressure incoming government to live up to their climate-related promises. The sooner the media realises how important it is to drawn public attention to this issue, the more chances we have of politicians and decision-makers taking up this problem more seriously.
