When the Mountains Warn: Glacial Melting & the Flood Crisis in Pakistan |
Environmental Insecurity has become an immediate national threat to the northern regions of Pakistan. Gilgit and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, admired for their breathtaking landscapes, beautiful mountains, and pristine rivers, are now observing unprecedented hydrological instability. Consequently, leading to floods that are frequent, destructive, and gradually man-made. The northern regions have now become some of the most vulnerable environments in South Asia as a result of rapid climate change, unregulated development, and policy neglect. It is apparent that if this crisis is not dealt with promptly, it will become an environmental threat for Pakistan, not just the northern regions.
Climate change is not a distant threat, but it is unwinding in the northern mountains of Pakistan in the most horrible way possible. The Hindu-Kush Himalaya (HKH) is also referred to as the “Third Pole“ for containing a large reserve of ice outside the polar regions. These glaciers are melting at an alarming rate due to the rising global temperature.
Rivers that were once used to flow steadily are now experiencing violent surges. Floods are triggered when the mountains are overwhelmed by the melted glaciers. Most of the time, in valleys, the water levels are rapidly increasing, so the people living there don’t have enough or very little time to respond. The predictable seasonal meltings have transformed into chaotic, erratic monsoons, displaced weather patterns, and extreme events resulting in hotter summers. These factors alone have dire consequences to strain the region, but human activities have evolved this crisis into a far more destructive force.
Induced floodings are not merely “natural disasters,” but they are triggered and worsened because of human actions. In northern Pakistan, human activity has increasingly burdened its delicate landscapes. Roads are built on unstable mountain slopes without proper geological assessments, and hydropower tunnels are drilled deep into already fragile terrain. Construction projects, hotels, and waste dumping have narrowed riverbeds. Even minor alterations in these tight valleys can redirect water flow and intensify its force during peak melt and rainfall........