Pakistan and climate change: 7 Urgent Truths Behind a Devastating National Threat
Pakistan and climate change is a devastating reality as the country faces deadly monsoons, heatwaves, and floods, showing why climate resilience must become a global priority
Pakistan and climate change is a devastating reality as the country faces deadly monsoons, heatwaves, and floods, showing why climate resilience must become a global priority.
Pakistan and climate change: introduction
Pakistan is a developing South Asian nation with over 250 million people. More than 25% of its population is living in poverty. Yet, despite its low emissions — just around 1% of total global greenhouse gases — Pakistan faces some of the most brutal consequences of climate change.
Extreme monsoons, record-breaking heatwaves, worsening droughts, glacier melt, and Himalayan flood bursts have turned Pakistan into one of the world’s most climate-vulnerable countries.
Images of submerged cities and displaced villagers have already defined the decade — and experts warn that this is only the beginning.
Here is why Pakistan and climate change is the new global case study of climate injustice.
Why Pakistan and climate change vulnerability is extreme
Pakistan sits in a geographic danger zone.
Its mountain ranges — including the western Himalayas, the Karakoram, and the Hindu Kush — hold the largest ice mass outside the poles. As global temperatures rise, glaciers melt rapidly, and more moisture forms in the atmosphere over South Asia.
This makes Pakistan a hotspot for:
- flash floods
- glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs)
- cloudburst monsoon rains
- deadly heat waves
- groundwater depletion
Many global datasets including the IPCC and the World Bank Climate Portal highlight Pakistan among the top 10 most climate-exposed nations.
IPCC — https://www.ipcc.ch
Extreme monsoons and Himalayan flood disasters
For 2 billion people in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, and Sri Lanka — the monsoon is life.
From June to September, monsoon rains cool the scorching plains and irrigate agriculture. But the monsoons are now mutating into deadly flash flood systems.
For the second time in 3 years, record rainfall in the Himalayas triggered catastrophic flooding in Pakistan. More than 4,000 villages were inundated. Over 2.5 million poor rural Pakistanis were evacuated. 1,000 lives were lost.
Pakistan suffered not just financial losses — but emotional trauma, displaced children, destroyed homes, ruined farmlands, collapsed bridges, and families torn apart. This is the human face of climate change.
Why climate change dumped so much rain on Pakistan
The scientific explanation is surprisingly simple — and terrifying:
warmer air holds more moisture
This means monsoon systems build up huge liquid energy — then release it in sudden, explosive bursts.
These “water bombs” overwhelm Pakistan’s rivers, villages, and infrastructure.
The country’s concrete storm drains, embankments, and flood protection systems were built decades ago — for a climate that no longer exists.
Global science reference NASA Climate — https://climate.nasa.gov
Heatwaves — Pakistan’s silent killer
Pakistan and climate change is not just about floods — heat is next.
Cities like Jacobabad, Dadu, and Rohri have touched “wet-bulb temperatures” that the human body can barely survive in.
In some cases, heat + humidity pushed the “survivability threshold”.
Many schools shut down. Farmers fainted in fields. Pregnant women suffered dehydration. Livestock died in the fields.
Heat is now a climate health crisis.
What Pakistan needs to do — urgently
Pakistan must redesign its climate future — fast.
Some urgent domestic priorities:
- climate-smart cities
- early warning systems
- water storage & recharge zones
- rain harvesting
- urban drainage redesign
- heat shelters
- relocation of high-risk settlements
Pakistan must turn climate resilience into a national infrastructure revolution.
What the international community must do
Pakistan and climate change cannot be solved by Pakistan alone.
Because Pakistan did not cause this crisis.
Global COP climate agreements recognized “Loss and Damage” — but delivery is painfully slow. Many international pledges remain stuck on paper.
Countries with high emissions must:
- increase green finance
- accelerate Loss & Damage payments
- invest in Pakistan’s flood and heat defense systems
Conclusion: Pakistan and climate change is a warning to Earth
Pakistan represents the future of climate injustice.
A low-emissions nation — paying a high-emissions price.
If the world fails Pakistan — it fails itself. Because whatever is happening in Pakistan today — will happen in other countries tomorrow.
