Summer has come with a vengeance this time around. After witnessing more than 700 deaths last year, Pakistan is once again in the grip of a ruthless heatwave. Large swathes of the country are simmering and ranking among the hottest places on Earth. In some areas, temperatures rising above 49 degrees Celsius are fast becoming routine. However, with all its predictability, this early fallout of the environmental crisis is something that authorities can no longer afford to ignore or downplay.
Global temperatures have been rising consistently, while weather pundits have warned for over a decade that South Asia will be among the most severely affected regions. Pakistan, in particular, remains highly vulnerable despite accounting for less than 1 percent of greenhouse gases. Weak green infrastructure, poor urban planning, erratic monsoons, and numerous other factors can all be blamed for the situation in Pakistan.
Despite hundreds of lives lost every year during June-July, there continues to be an absence of meaningful interventions, mainly due to lack of finances required to right the wrongs. The country’s plans to be on a war footing following financial pledges by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are a welcome step. However, the state needs to learn from past experiences and stop thinking of climate change as an external problem to be addressed “only” when donors and diplomats step in. Moreover, it must stop treating heatwaves as an annual anomaly but as a growing threat that returns each time with a relatively higher intensity and for a longer period. That said, immediate measures are equally important.
Authorities must understand that it is one thing to live in a hot climate and another to suffer it without relief. Considering hospitals across the country have already started reporting heatstroke cases, authorities must at least develop and operationalize heat action plans in all major cities without delay. That must be backed by real-time data and pre-emptive public health measures, especially in concrete jungles like Karachi and Lahore that have become heat islands. The much-talked-about emergency cooling shelters must be made available in urban and rural centers alike.
Now that Pakistan has the means in hand, it is incumbent on the state to walk the talk and translate the recently secured climate finances into reforms and targeted protection for the most vulnerable
The state must also consider rolling out a policy adjusting work hours for outdoor laborers, especially in vulnerable cities. That needs to be complemented by intensified awareness campaigns about hydration and heatstroke. Inclusion of investment in green infrastructure and sustainable water management in the long-term policy is no longer a choice but a necessity.
Warnings and advisories alone will not solve the problem. Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, during his recent budget speech, rightly described climate change as an “existential threat” requiring immediate action. Now that Pakistan has the means in hand, it is incumbent on the state to walk the talk and translate the recently secured climate finances into reforms and targeted protection for the most vulnerable. After all, it is not just the heat that is rising, it is also the cost of delay.
