Critics highlight that the nation’s inadequate efforts in disaster preparedness and infrastructure resilience have left it ill-equipped to handle climate impacts, cementing its position as the most vulnerable country. This perspective challenges the narrative that external climate forces alone are to blame, suggesting instead that systemic inaction has exacerbated Pakistan’s exposure.
Addressing climate change requires collective action from government, businesses and communities, but this approach faces significant hurdles in Pakistan. The government, despite claims of competence and transparency, grapples with competing priorities, limiting its capacity to drive meaningful climate policies. Businesses, meanwhile, often evade regulatory measures, citing a mix of legitimate and questionable excuses. A recent example is the plastic bag ban in Sindh, where manufacturers delayed enforcement by seeking legal recourse, underscoring their resistance to environmental regulations.
Civil society, the third pillar of potential change, remains fragmented. While some community groups exist on paper or social media, many lack the experience or skills to lead effective climate activism. Others, purporting to champion the cause, often fall short in demonstrating genuine leadership, further stalling progress.
We are grappling with a dual climate crisis, suffering both the devastating impacts of climate change and missed opportunities for sustainable progress. As one of the most climate-vulnerable nations, the country faces severe consequences from its fragile infrastructure and limited capacity to proactively adapt to escalating climate disasters, often resorting to reactive measures.
Compounding the issue, we are failing to capitalise on opportunities embedded within our climate challenges. Experts attribute this to a lack of climate-responsive governance and a business mindset overly focused on profit, neglecting the balance between people, profit and the planet.
Equally critical is the absence of robust climate activism, a vital pillar for driving change. No significant think-tank or grassroots movement is actively fostering widespread climate activism to create a trickle-down effect in communities, leaving the country underprepared to address its mounting environmental and economic challenges.
Pakistan’s agricultural lands hold a hidden gem: agroforestry, an opportunity for planting carbon-sequestering trees alongside crops to generate carbon credits. This approach could generate significant revenue, potentially adding billions to the economy annually. However, without concerted efforts to overcome climate inaction, this opportunity risks slipping away.
Two key steps could unlock agroforestry’s potential. First, the government must accelerate the establishment of an emissions trading system (ETS) and extend its reach to the district level, enabling farmers to monetise carbon sequestration. Second, raising awareness among farmers and landlords about the financial benefits of agroforestry is critical to encouraging tree planting around crop fields. But our climate apathy remains a major hurdle. Without collective action to push for policy reforms and educate stakeholders, we may miss out on a sustainable and profitable future for our agricultural sector.
A recent report from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics reveals that nearly 40% of our households rely on biomass for cooking, contributing significantly to carbon emissions across the nation. This widespread practice, affecting nearly half of the population, highlights a pressing environmental challenge but also a missed opportunity for communities to adopt sustainable solutions.
In many African nations, community-driven initiatives have successfully introduced zero-emission stoves, which not only reduce carbon footprints but also generate valuable carbon credits when registered with proper authorities. In Pakistan, however, the absence of such community-level climate activism has left this potential untapped. Without grassroots efforts, families continue to use biomass, missing out on cleaner, cost-saving alternatives that could improve health and livelihoods.
The lack of activism also stalls progress on establishing carbon markets in Pakistan, a country with immense potential for carbon credit generation. Community advocacy could pressure the government to accelerate the development of both voluntary and compliance carbon markets, enabling households through climate justice to benefit financially from sustainable practices. Yet, without this push, the necessary regulatory frameworks remain absent, leaving communities and the environment at a disadvantage.
The catastrophic 2022 floods in Sindh, which inflicted $32 billion in damages, remain a stark reminder of our vulnerability to climate change. Despite global appeals, the nation secured only a fraction of the needed recovery funds, highlighting a critical gap in climate financing. Pakistan requires $100 billion to achieve its Nationally Determined Contribution goal of cutting carbon emissions by 45%, with an additional $65 billion needed for adaptation to build resilience and shed its ranking among the world’s most climate-vulnerable countries.
However, the absence of qualified manpower at the policy level hampers efforts. Cadre officers struggle to convince a technically adept global community of Pakistan’s urgent needs, constrained by a lack of specialised expertise. Public universities, unlike a few high-cost institutions, have yet to integrate climate studies into their core curricula, leaving the nation short of skilled climate specialists.
Compounding the issue, the country lacks a robust force of climate activists to pressure the government into swift action. Without urgent measures, the nation’s losses and missed opportunities will continue to escalate, potentially at an even faster pace, as the impacts of climate change intensify.