Pakistan’s climate emergency is no longer seasonal news. It is the defining reality of the country’s future. The scale and speed of climatic disruption have steadily increased with scientific assessments warning that South Asia is entering a period of unprecedented climatic volatility. Pakistan has already become one of the most climate-vulnerable countries in the world despite contributing less than one per cent to global emissions.

The country’s recent history makes this clear. The super floods of 2010 and 2022 were described by scientists as once in a century events yet both occurred within twelve years. Dawn’s recent report highlights how altered monsoon behaviour has intensified rainfall patterns making them heavier and more erratic. Heatwaves now begin earlier in the year and last longer. Glacial melt in the north has accelerated faster than regional averages. Coastal areas face mounting salinity intrusion alongside rising sea levels.

These compounding forces make clear that climate change is not producing isolated shocks. It is reshaping Pakistan’s geography economy and social landscape. The impacts are already visible in food insecurity crop losses inflation health crises and rural displacement.

This reality exposes the limits of Pakistan’s historic disaster response model. For decades the country depended on post-disaster relief donor appeals and slow reconstruction programmes. With extreme events now occurring almost every year the idea of rebuilding after each disaster has become economically and institutionally unviable. Prevention not response must become the core of Pakistan’s climate strategy.

NDRMF: A pioneering approach to resilience

In recent years, the The National Disaster Risk Management Fund (NDRMF) has evolved as one of the few institutions pushing this shift. The Fund has become a pivotal national instrument for building resilience bridging the longstanding gap between climate policy channeling financing and facilitating on-the-ground action. Its work demonstrates........

© Dawn (Magazines)