Pakistan, one of the developing countries in South Asia, is under immense pressure to counter the adverse effects of rampant climate change. Although Pakistan, like other developing nations, has contributed only minimally to global carbon emissions, it is paying an extremely high price due to the irresponsible attitude of the entities responsible for its emissions. The crisis is not only the result of negligence at the global level; domestically, pre-emptive and post-disaster measures have rarely been pursued with the seriousness they warrant.

The enduring reoccurrences in recent periods expose Pakistan’s weakness in tackling climate change despite its adverse effects on lives and property. For instance, the 2010 floods proved to be the most life-consuming and monumental burden on the economy. Subsequently, the 2022 floods turned out to be the most pervasive, affecting one-seventh of the country's population. The latter were also turned out to be the benchmark for the unprecedented climate influence in Pakistan, when nearly one-third of the country was submerged. Yet this proved to be only the inception, as each passing year proves more fatal, exposing Pakistan’s fragility in its ability to counter climate shocks.

This persistent disaster not only underscored Pakistan’s vulnerability to climate change but also revealed inherent system failures and the inadequacy to swiftly respond to climate emergencies. Perceivably, these catastrophic climate change manifestations and persistent flooding have become a recurring reality for the country. Making matters worse, internationally pledged donations are mostly partially met or become entangled with domestic misappropriation when received. This lack of transparency and accountability within crisis management institutions often renders affected communities hopeless during the crisis.

Fragility Exposed: Why Institutions Fail

After repeated experiences of massive destruction as a result of Global Warming, the leadership of Pakistan miserably failed to take action to counter it. Surprisingly, in both years, 2022 and 2025, when Pakistan faced the worst flooding, the very same people were in power then and they still hold the throne of power now. This also proves their 'solemnity'. A discrepancy of 40% existed between the availability and requirement of funding, depicting the severe deficiency of agricultural institutions' financial resources; merely 15% was available for CCA/CRM operation. The machinery and hardware for climatic predicament were only 21%, making 0.30 of the physical resources index value. The worst case was about human resources and training, as only 12% were sufficiently trained, while just 26 % institutions possessed human resources to meet emergency needs. The weakest part was the collaboration between institutions and public sector organizations, making up to 27%.

Policy on Paper, Not in Practice

Pakistan has a top-down approach to its climate change policy, where gaps, misunderstandings, and a lack of ownership by the key implementers arise.

Implicit exclusion of both the affected population and predominant actors, such as civil society, organizations, and local communities, makes the policy development process unfeasible. The policies are too general, with no inter-sectoral planning, prioritization of vulnerable sectors, targets, and accountability.

It is conspicuous that the neglect of Pakistan's decentralized system leads to poor collaboration between the federal government and provinces. Resultantly, provinces pay less heed to climate action. The crux of the matter is that climate change is viewed in Pakistan as solely an environmental issue rather than a fatal problem.

The Floods of 2022 and the Funding Mirage

Per the Centre for Science and Environment, the lethal flooding in 2022 that  killed over 2000 people, affected another 33 million, and led to $30 billion economic loss, was due to global warming. August 2022 was indeed the most disastrous month for Pakistan in recent years, crowned as the wettest month since 1961, with 243% more than average rainfall. In 2022's flooding, the province of Sindh faced the music the most; it witnessed 726% more rainfall than normal.

Sindh was hit the hardest as 87 % of the 7 million displaced belonged to Sindh. The economic ripple effect was shocking; inflation, which was pegged at 26 percent, had increased, with some commodities leaping to 500 percent. In the agriculture sector, two million hectares of farmland were ruined. Since Sindh contributes almost one-third of cotton in Pakistan, that shockwave reflected on the textile exports, which are also a major part of the economy. Additionally, the school dropout rate was highest in Sindh, which stood at 19,750.

The priority after flooding was to secure the funding to ensure a fast-paced recovery. In this context, donations were gathered from many sources. Rs 70 billion were released by the federal government for immediate relief assistance, and 63% of them were distributed through the Benazir Support Program (BISP). The PM relief fund was created to accept domestic and global donations. The response of Pakistan's flood plan requested $16 million from international donors. By September 2023, only 68.2% of the required donations were funded. Asian Development Bank and UNDP also proposed a framework for flood emergency response to support recovery.

Adding to this, there was a World Bank-funded project to upgrade flood warning systems (IFRAP) to the tune of about 188 million dollars, but this was delayed and not implemented very well. The government was not able to achieve the tendering process, and thus upgrades on the radar system were not achieved.

Moreover, the fact that was not brought to light was the nature of the funding. Approximately 90 percent of pledges of Geneva had a form of project-based loans, and not unconditional budgetary sources. Most of the elements were the reallocation of already allocated funds rather than new funds, making the implementation time-consuming and lacking ease in fiscal provisions.

2025: The Cycle Repeats in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

The year is 2025, with the same calamity of flooding. Hitherto, the spot of the devastation is Khyber Pakhtunkhwa , the northern side of Pakistan, where entire villages have been washed away by rivers that overflowed, coupled with mudslides and collapsing houses, burying families.

The cloudbursts usually happen in mountain areas in the monsoon season, where the weather can suddenly form localised downpours, which cause landslides. In Pakistan, the rainy monsoon season is normally between July and September, with the heaviest downpour in the month of August.

Loose soil locally prone to erosion and deforestation has predisposed the area to landslides and flash floods. Authorities claim that Buner, which has the most losses, was struck by a cloudburst, which is rare and results in over 100mm (4 inches) of rain falling in an hour over a small space.

Furthermore, what can be worse than the immediate assistance provided by the provincial government being faced with a huge blow, as the helicopter sent to the vulnerable area also crashed because of the weather conditions.

When speaking about the devastating floods in 2022, the then and current Premier Shehbaz Sharif emphasized that the lessons had not been learned, especially in terms of construction in unsafe places. He denounced the construction of hotels and houses on river banks and flood plains and considered this a human blunder. "No law exists anywhere around the globe which permits the establishment of buildings in such a hazardous location". Despite contributing less than 1% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, the country is being plagued by repeated heatwaves, heavy showers, glacial lake outburst floods, and sudden cloudbursts, which can kill the communities within hours.  What can be deduced from all of this is that the story is repeating itself, but in another region of Pakistan. 

The top reason behind massive casualties and loss of properties is due to inadequate preparedness and lack of management, although the warnings of unusual rainfalls were already made. The fact that climate change is a grievous matter was exacerbated by the abnormal rainfall, leading to flash floods. For the crippling economy of Pakistan, marked by political obfuscation and inflation, it became complicated to respond to the floods. As a result, there were dual problems of threat to health, food security, and social unrest due to soaring criminal activity. Accommodation, loss of crops, is also not an exception.

Breaking the Pattern

Green financing is the financing and funding mechanism that supplies finances in order to make environmentally friendly projects and initiatives. In Pakistan's context, there is a focus on investing in low-carbon infrastructure and climate adaptation measures. Initiatives such as green loans, green bonds, and equity programs are taken for green and sustainable investments. But the financial resources needed for climate mitigation again become a fly in the ointment, as Pakistan needs $7-14 billion annually for climate mitigation till 2050 and $ 101 billion for clean energy transition by 2030, which can be difficult to manage by the struggling economy of Pakistan.

Pakistan can also follow suit with the 4RF Framework, that is, Resilience, Recovery, Rehabilitation, Reconstruction, as well as community-driven approaches, eco-friendly and sustainable infrastructure, inclusion of vulnerable groups and revisions of institutional arrangements and fiscal redistribution.

Disaster is the natural and political tragedy of Pakistan. Until climate finance becomes real finance, and until governance is real rather than paper only, every monsoon can rest on a new map composed of the same lines. The floods do not show how the water flows, but how the political will does not, whether in Sindh in 2022 or Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2025. But this leaves an empty room, unanswered question of food security, never-ending unfulfilled promises and the danger of more flooding still to come.