As rains lash on, climate change hits Pakistan’s way of life

As heavy rain hits a growing number of cities across Pakistan in this year’s early monsoon downpour, there’s no relief in close sight amid predictions of rains continuing for at least a week.

The ongoing rainfall has so far claimed at least 110 lives all over Pakistan and revived fears over a repeat of flood like conditions last witnessed in 2022. The heavy rainfall is widely known to have been triggered by the incidence of climate change that promises to alter Pakistan’s way of life in times to come.

One key trigger for the rain related aggravation has come from a faster melting of glaciers across the northern areas, notably Gilgit-Baltistan. Once estimated to be more than seven thousand glaciers, their faster than expected depletion is a powerful reminder of a changing weather pattern all around Pakistan.
With glacial melting gathering momentum due to higher temperatures, abrupt changes to Pakistan’s way of life are visible all around. Across the plains of Pakistan, a faster deforestation and a failure to plant more trees to replace old once, has added to the effects of climate change.

Heavy rainfall: Water level at Nullah Lai reaches 20 feet

A glimpse in to an increasingly uncertain future came with the creation of the Attabad lake in Hunza valley in 2010. Today, Attabad lake’s surroundings have been turned in to a tourist attraction.

Yet, the creation of the lake in a massive landslide and its adverse result for residents of that area must be remembered as a key case of adverse climate change. At least 20 people died in that landslide while around six thousand residents of the area were forced to leave their homes.

What lies ahead is the danger of further natural calamities waiting to happen. For Pakistan, the moment of upcoming disasters beginning to occur, has already passed. The emergency that continues to unfold deserves an equally urgent response.

The latest rain related destruction has yet again raised powerful questions over the required emergency response, driven by two equally vital initiatives.

First, tackling climate change requires an urgent deployment of all available resources to this area. This must happen side by side with a pause to all other development work, such as planned building of roads or other elements of infrastructure. Instead, tackling what lies at the heart of climate change must be undertaken as a top priority till the effects of climate change are begun to be tackled.

Second, Pakistan’s economic journey must be anchored upon the country’s rapidly sinking agricultural sector, whose future holds the key to tackling livelihoods as well as climate change. During the last financial year (July 2024-June 2025), Pakistan’s agricultural sector grew by a mere 0.6 per cent or far below the estimated rate of annual population growth of 2.5 per cent. It is clear that Pakistan’s ability to grow its food products lags far behind the pace at which Pakistan’s population is growing.

In recent years, policy failures have reversed the growth of Pakistan’s agricultural sector. The worst example of such a failure was witnessed in spring 2024 when the provincial government of the Punjab abruptly withdrew a promise to buy wheat from harvest that year, after announcing a purchase price of Rupees 3900 per maund (40 kgs.). That abrupt change forced farmers to sell their wheat stocks at a market price of below 35 per cent or more than what the Punjab government had earlier promised. The effects of those losses continue to hit Pakistan’s poorest farmers, unlike any other catastrophe in recent memory.

Going forward, a revival of the agriculture sector is essential to begin tackling climate change while rebuilding Pakistan’s economic outlook.

Independent estimates have concluded that almost 100 million Pakistanis or roughly 40 per cent of Pakistan’s population, are already impoverished. Creating opportunities for these Pakistanis must be driven by improving prospects for food security. The climate related disasters witnessed today will continue to grow unless tackled urgently.