Another punishing wave of extreme weather has arrived, with the Met Office predicting a severe heatwave gripping much of Pakistan through the week. Temperatures are expected to soar 6°C to 8°C above normal in southern regions, while the rest of the country swelters under similarly intense conditions. Add to this the threat of dust storms, hot nights, and worsening water scarcity, and the result is a grim picture of a country teetering on the edge of environmental crisis.
This is not a freak occurrence—it is a symptom of a larger, rapidly escalating climate emergency. Pakistan has been hit repeatedly by such weather extremes: deadly floods, prolonged droughts, glacial melts, and heatwaves have become more frequent and intense. Despite the growing evidence and repeated warnings from climate experts, the national response continues to lack urgency, coherence, and long-term vision.
Agriculture, the backbone of Pakistan’s economy, is bearing the brunt of this crisis. With the first quarter of 2025 already marked by significantly below-average rainfall, many regions are facing drought-like conditions. The incoming heatwave threatens to further devastate crops and livestock, leaving farmers in a perilous situation. While advisories from the Met Office urging precaution are well-meaning, they fall short of addressing the scale of the problem. What Pakistan needs is a wholesale rethinking of its agricultural practices—training farmers to adapt to new climate realities, promoting drought-resistant crops, and introducing climate-smart farming techniques.
The country’s water crisis is equally alarming. With reservoir levels at Tarbela and Mangla dams critically low, Pakistan stands dangerously exposed to an extended dry spell. Water, once taken for granted, is now a finite resource being misused and mismanaged. The current infrastructure and policies are woefully inadequate to deal with the demands of a warming, increasingly water-scarce world. A national campaign for water conservation is urgently needed—not just slogans, but comprehensive education and policy measures aimed at industry, agriculture, and households.
What is most troubling is the absence of sustained political will to confront these challenges head-on. Climate change is not a distant threat—it is here, disrupting lives, livelihoods, and ecosystems. It must be treated as the existential crisis that it is. Pakistan needs a unified, science-backed, and future-facing climate policy. This means integrating climate adaptation and mitigation strategies into every level of planning—from urban development to food security.
Pakistan can no longer afford to patch together temporary fixes while the climate clock ticks faster. The cost of inaction is too high. The time for decisive, transformative action is now.
