Region 
 

Sialkot

Climate Shocks to Climate Action

Pakistan must build a robust climate resilience framework informed by international best practices, tailored to its unique socio-economic and environmental context.

By Prof. S. Shafiq ur Rehman | October 2025


Academic discussions vis-á-vis natural disasters, which are armed with the potential to kill, traumatize, damage, and destroy, hence dreadful, normally exclude volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and tsunamis, as they are unrelated to the atmosphere. All remaining disasters, such as unusual rainfall, cloudbursts, blizzards, snowstorms, windstorms, hurricanes or tornadoes, floods, glacial-outburst floods, wet or dry mass movements, and last but not least important droughts, are atmospheric and hydrological in nature.

A report of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) in October 2020 revealed that during the two decades from 1980 to 1999, a total of 4,212 disasters were globally reported, which caused 1.19 million deaths, affected 3.2 billion people, and accrued US$1.63 trillion in economic damage. In comparison, during the next two decades (2000-2019), the number of reported disasters sprang up to 7,348, causing 1.23 million deaths, 4.03 billion affected, and economic losses worth US$2.97 trillion. Apart from the factor of climate change, the higher number of fatalities and number of affected people may also be attributed to the ever-increasing population, whereas an increase in economic losses may also be due to global inflation rates.

In another study, concluded in April 2024, the number of all climate-related disasters from 2000 to 2023 comes to 8700, excluding earthquakes. Among the total 4088 were flood events, 2549 extreme weather events, and 465 wet mass movement instances. The message is unmistakable: not only is the number of disasters rising, but with enhanced intensity and frequency, it is more threatening. The only way to save our populations is to shift the focus to adaptation rather than mitigation by enhancing our resilience by embedding adaptation benchmarks in our national and sub-national development programs in the public and private sectors equally.

In this regard, the EU’s adoption of the European Adaptation Strategy (2021) is a significant way forward towards building greater climate resilience. The strategy stresses heavy investment by the member states and the private sector to reduce vulnerability to climate risk or disaster risk reduction (DRR), save lives, cut costs, and protect prosperity across the EU. Out of 36 risks, 8 were identified for urgent action to conserve ecosystems, protect people and infrastructure against heat and floods. The increasing implementation of local, nature-based solutions demonstrates their success. Successes include specific projects in Slovakia, Portugal, and Germany focusing on nature-based solutions and community engagement, alongside a rise in international climate adaptation finance from the EU and Member States.

The state of Kerala (India) experienced its worst-ever monsoon rains that triggered devastating floods and landslides affecting 5 million people in the Pamba River Basin in 2018. Subsequently, Kerala approached the World Bank with the request for a loan of US$250 million to enhance Kerala’s resilience against natural disasters, impacts of climate change, disease outbreaks, and pandemics. The program was approved in 2021, with the objectives of strengthening systems for disaster risk finance and social protection, improving fiscal and debt management, and supporting local capacity building. Its successes include developing river basin management plans, flood forecasting for the Pamba River Basin, and adopting a statewide resilient agro-ecological zone development plan.

Building climate/disaster resilience in Pakistan, drawing from the European Commission’s Report 2021, on climate resilience for EU countries, and the World Bank’s funding on resilient Kerala, we must involve a multi-faceted approach addressing policy, governance, ensuring effective early warning system, availability of required logistics, periodic trainings on rescue and relief staff, identification of appropriately equipped makeshift accommodation in case of relocating affected population, upfront investment in risk reduction, financially securing costly infrastructure, and community adaptation.


Pakistan needs to integrate climate adaptation into all levels of policymaking, ensuring that national, sub-national, and sectoral policies incorporate climate/disaster resilience measures. This aligns with the European approach of embedding climate resilience in policy frameworks and the World Bank’s emphasis on tailored strategies for specific client needs. Conduct comprehensive assessments of the health system and other critical sectors to evaluate their ability to manage current and future climate-related risks. This allows targeted interventions to strengthen vulnerable points in the system, a step highlighted in Pakistan’s own health system assessments.

Invest in resilient infrastructure, including climate-resilient urban planning and nature-based solutions such as watershed restoration and slope stabilization. These measures reduce disaster risk and enhance the capacity to withstand extreme weather events, reflecting best practices from the EU and Kerala experiences. Encourage diversification in production and income at household and community levels to reduce vulnerability to climate shocks. This economic strategy is crucial for resilience and is recommended in international frameworks for climate adaptation.

Accelerate reforms to expand domestic revenue mobilization, such as implementing municipal and property taxes that can fund resilience-building projects. Adequate financing mechanisms play a crucial role in sustaining long-term climate adaptation efforts. Besides, supporting capacity building at various governance levels to better anticipate, understand, and respond to climate risks. Enhancing preparedness includes improving data collection, climate risk assessments, and early warning systems.

Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority launched the National Disaster Risk Reduction Strategy 2025-30 earlier this year, which provides a framework to mitigate such risks. Pakistan’s NDRRS has seven strategic goals. (i) Enhancing risk understanding and reduction, (ii) Strengthening disaster governance, (iii) Investing in resilience, (iv) Modernizing preparedness and response, (v) Prompting inclusive & sustainable disaster risk reduction, (vi) Leveraging technology and innovation, and (vii) Ensuring sustainable financing.

NDMA claims that NDRRS has incorporated all key international and national commitments, such as the National DRR Policy 2013, National Climate Change Policy 2021, National Adaptation Plan 2023, and the Resilient Recovery, Rehabilitation, and Reconstruction Framework, Pakistan. As short-term measures, it seeks to establish inter-agency task forces for joint decision-making, operationalize the Disaster Management Coordination Forum, and promote vertical and horizontal communication channels to ensure the adequate flow of information between national, provincial, and district authorities.

By combining these steps, Pakistan must build a robust climate resilience framework informed by international best practices and tailored to its unique socio-economic and environmental context. This approach will help mitigate the impacts of climate change and safeguard development gains.

Ironically, less than two months after the strategy’s publication, Pakistan faced its first on-ground test of its new integrated strategy. The NDMA had already predicted the onset of monsoon 2025 in the last week of June, with above-average precipitation in 73 country districts and urban flooding in 10 major cities, GLOFs, and landslides. Yet the early warning system was neither timely nor effective, nor were the quality of rescue and relief operations. We can conclude it with the American advice of DO MORE!

Read More