City safe from 'Shakti'
The system is expected to move northwards towards India, and currently, there is no threat to the Pakistani coastline. The weatherman expects the system to intensify into a strong depression in the next 24 hours due to favorable environmental conditions.
The Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum has appealed to fishermen not to venture into the open sea, citing safety concerns due to high tides. The forum's spokesperson, Kamal Shah, said that fishermen are being continuously informed through radio transmissions to avoid the open sea for the next few days, considering the potential proximity of the system to Karachi and Sindh's coastal areas.
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Business Recorder
16-07-2025
- Business Recorder
Rain reimagined: could monsoons be the answer to Pakistan's water problems?
In Pakistan, where flooding devastates some regions while drought cripples others, rainwater harvesting is an uptapped lifeline that could turn the monsoon season from a nuisance to a resource. Rainwater harvesting is the collection and storage of rain for reuse before it drains away. From rooftop catchment tanks in homes to large underground reservoirs in communities and farms, this system allows water to be stored for irrigation, washing, livestock, and even safe drinking with basic filtration. In cities like Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad, flash floods during monsoon seasons cause chaos, yet the same water could be stored to recharge groundwater or provide months of clean utility water. In rural Pakistan, especially in arid zones like Tharparkar, Cholistan, and Balochistan, where rainfall is rare but intense, harvesting systems could mean the difference between survival and starvation. These areas desperately need community based water tanks, dug wells, and natural catchment restoration all of which can be done with low cost, local materials. According to the Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR), more than 29 million acre-feet (MAF) of rainwater goes unused annually. That's enough to meet the drinking and household needs of every Pakistani for a year yet it simply washes away. Dams dry up, groundwater drops, and climate change tightens its grip. What's more, cities draw groundwater at unsustainable rates, causing the water table to fall dangerously low. In parts of Punjab and Sindh, groundwater depletion has already reached crisis levels, threatening both drinking water and food production. As Pakistan faces yet another year of unpredictable rains, parched fields, and shrinking water supplies, a centuries old solution is knocking from the sky. Rainwater harvesting - once a common practice in rural communities that has faded into obscurity amid urban expansion and mismanaged water systems - needs to be revived. 'It's not rocket science' 'Pakistan is now ranked among the top 10 countries most vulnerable to water stress. With an alarming per capita water availability of less than 900 cubic meters, we've plunged below the scarcity threshold. And yet, every year, billions of liters of precious rainwater are wasted flowing off rooftops, flooding streets, or evaporating unused,' associate professor at Sindh Agricultural University Dr Aasia Akbar Panhwar said. She said rainwater harvesting 'isn't rocket science'. Countries like India and Australia have already made it part of their national water management. Dr Panhwar called for mandatory rainwater harvesting in all new buildings and housing schemes; community tanks and recharge pits in water stressed areas; training and awareness programmes for farmers, builders, and local governments; integration of rainwater harvesting in school and college curricula; and government subsidies and technical support to promote adoption. 'As climate change worsens and rainfall becomes more erratic, we must act now or face an even drier, more divided future.' 'Rainwater harvesting offers a rare win-win situation as it reduces flood risk, replenishes aquifers, supports agriculture, and strengthens water independence. Let's stop watching the rain as a passing storm and start seeing it as a precious gift.' she said. Assistant Professor Dr Tanveer Ahmed Gadhi - who works at the US Pakistan Center for Advanced Studies in Water at Mehran University of Engineering & Technology, Jamshoro - said Pakistan receives an average of 137 billion cubic meters of rainfall annually, equivalent to 111 MAF. Yet, due to inadequate infrastructure, poor urban planning, and a lack of strategic catchment systems, over 60–70% of this goes unutilized, either running off into drains or evaporating. 'If even 30% of annual rainfall were effectively harvested and stored through rooftop systems, urban recharge schemes, and small check dams, Pakistan could potentially capture around 33–35 MAF/year, or over 90 billion liters per day - that is nearly four times the nation's drinking water requirement, and about 15% of total agricultural water use, a meaningful cushion for drought-prone periods,' he said. He said for urban areas, rooftop rainwater harvesting alone holds significant promise. In cities like Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, and Quetta, annual rainfall ranges from 150 mm to 500 mm. A single 1,000 sq. ft. rooftop can collect up to 50,000 liters/year, which, when scaled across urban housing units, could offset municipal water stress significantly. Similarly, rain-fed (barani) areas of Punjab and Balochistan could enhance agricultural resilience by using localized harvesting and storage systems for supplemental irrigation. On top of that, groundwater recharge, now critically low in urban centers, can be dramatically improved by channeling rainwater through percolation pits and aquifer injection wells. In parts of Islamabad and Lahore, pilot recharge systems have already shown promising results in restoring shallow aquifers after monsoons. 'From scarcity to sustainability' Despite the potential, rainwater harvesting in Pakistan remains underutilized due to weak policy support, lack of public awareness, and fragmented institutional ownership. While countries like India have legally mandated rooftop harvesting in many states, Pakistan's uptake is still mostly limited to pilot projects and donor-funded initiatives. 'Harnessing even a fraction of the annual rainfall through systematic harvesting could transform Pakistan's water outlook from scarcity to sustainability. It is not a question of availability, but a question of will, planning, and action,' Dr Gadhi said. According to the World Bank and FAO studies and reports, Pakistan requires an estimated 922 billion liters of water per day, equivalent to 236 MAF annually, to meet its national needs across drinking, domestic use, livestock, and agriculture. However, the breakdown of this demand reveals a striking imbalance in how the country allocates its water. Despite a population exceeding 241 million, the combined requirement for safe drinking water and basic household needs accounts for only 36 billion liters per day, less than 4% of total usage. This includes around 12 billion liters for drinking and hygiene (at 50 liters per person/day) and 24 billion liters for broader household use. In stark contrast, agriculture alone consumes nearly 880 billion liters daily, making up over 93% of Pakistan's total water use. This is largely due to inefficient irrigation methods and cultivation of water-intensive crops like rice and sugarcane. With nearly 200 million animals, the livestock sector adds another 6 billion liters daily to the national demand. These numbers underscore a systemic misalignment, while safe drinking water needs are modest, they remain unmet in many regions, often due to poor infrastructure and contamination. The data suggests that Pakistan's water crisis is not purely about scarcity; it's fundamentally about governance, efficiency, and misplaced priorities. Without urgent policy shifts towards equitable distribution, sustainable irrigation, and investment in treatment systems, the country risks deepening its water insecurity even with more than enough water on paper.
Business Recorder
30-06-2025
- Business Recorder
Scorching Pakistan this year: the forgotten frontline of heatwave
This summer, Pakistan isn't just hot—it's scorching. Across Sindh and Punjab, the mercury has crossed 49°C, placing cities like Jacobabad and Nawabshah among the hottest places on Earth. Urban residents suffer in what has become an annual crisis, but a more acute, quieter catastrophe is unfolding just beyond our city centers. In Pakistan's rapidly expanding peri-urban zones, millions endure deadly heatwaves without the most basic tools to survive. Peri-urban areas—those sprawling, semi-formal settlements on the fringes of cities—are the hidden casualties of the climate crisis. These are the transitional zones where rural landscapes give way to unchecked urban sprawl. There live Pakistan's working poor: sanitation workers, rickshaw drivers, construction laborers, and domestic help. They build our homes, grow our food, clean our offices—but when the heat strikes, they are left to face it with nothing but wet rags, unreliable electricity, and hope. This disparity is not accidental—it is institutional. Peri-urban areas fall into a policy vacuum. Too urban to qualify for rural development funds and too informal to be fully integrated into city governance, these communities are often invisible in the very plans meant to protect the public from climate hazards. Heatwave alerts, for example, are issued through formal media and official government channels. But many people in these zones lack access to consistent media, let alone digital early warning systems. As a result, they often don't even know a heat alert has been issued until it's too late. Pakistan is among the top 10 countries most affected by climate change. The worsening heatwaves are not a surprise—they've been forecast for years. Scientists have warned that South Asia, and Pakistan in particular, will face more frequent and more intense episodes of extreme heat due to climate change. Yet every year, the same story repeats: temperatures soar, hospitals overflow, power fails, and lives are lost. This year, the situation is exacerbated by ongoing economic strain and administrative limitations. The Pakistani government has issued heatwave advisories through the Pakistan Meteorological Department. Emergency cooling centers have been set up in some cities, and early school closures have been declared in provinces like Sindh and Punjab. But these actions are still reactive, limited in scale, and largely concentrated in urban cores. The problem isn't that authorities aren't responding—it's that they aren't responding where it matters most. To date, there is no systematic strategy to address heat vulnerability in peri-urban areas, despite their rapid sprawl. Rural-to-urban migration, unaffordable housing in city centers, and informal settlement growth imply that more and more Pakistanis live in zones that are administratively undefined, physically underserved, and politically underrepresented, facing what urban planners call a 'compounded vulnerability.' Homes are often built from tin, concrete blocks, or recycled materials, creating heat traps. Poor housing, lack of water access, limited healthcare, and inadequate sanitation make residents more susceptible to the health effects of heatwaves. Heatstroke, dehydration, and respiratory distress increase significantly among people who live in overcrowded, unventilated environments with no access to medical care. And yet, because these areas often lie outside municipal recordkeeping or census mapping, their suffering remains statistically invisible. It's time we stop treating heatwaves as one-size-fits-all crises. The reality is that while the climate may heat everyone equally, not everyone has an equal chance of survival. Pakistan needs a differentiated, inclusive approach to heat preparedness. Here's where we must start with mapping vulnerability using satellite data, population density, and infrastructure surveys to identify high-risk peri-urban zones, extend Heat Action Plans Beyond the City Core, protect Outdoor Workers, invest in Passive Cooling and Green Infrastructure and should promote Community Awareness and Engagement. These are not expensive interventions. They are basic rights. And with recent commitments from international financial institutions like the World Bank and IMF to fund Pakistan's climate response, the resources are now available. If the government's climate narrative remains centered only on policy conferences and urban infrastructure, we will continue to fail the majority of those at risk. This heatwave is not the last—it is only a sign of what lies ahead. It is time to stop asking whether we can afford to act—and start asking whether we can afford not path to climate resilience does not run through air-conditioned offices. It runs through the slums, the outskirts, and the sweat of Pakistan's working poor. It is there—in the dusty streets of our peri-urban neighborhoods—that the real frontlines of the climate crisis are drawn. If Pakistan is to survive the rising heat, then our policies must reach where the heat hits hardest. Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
Express Tribune
23-06-2025
- Express Tribune
Climate crisis affects Pakistan education
Students attend a class under a tree on the outskirts of Sukkur, known for its hot weather. PHOTO: FILE/AFP Pakistan's children are losing weeks of education each year to school closures caused by climate change-linked extreme weather, prompting calls for a radical rethink of learning schedules. Searing heat, toxic smog and unusual cold snaps have all caused closures that are meant to spare children the health risks of learning in classrooms that are often overcrowded and lack basic cooling, heating or ventilation systems. In May, a nationwide heatwave saw temperatures up to seven degrees Celsius above normal, hitting 45C (113 degrees Fahrenheit) in Punjab and prompting several provinces to cut school hours or start summer holidays early. "The class becomes so hot that it feels like we are sitting in a brick kiln," said 17-year-old Hafiz Ehtesham outside an inner city Lahore school. "I don't even want to come to school." Pakistan is among the countries most vulnerable to climate change, with limited resources for adaptation, and extreme weather is compounding an existing education crisis caused mostly by access and poverty. "Soon we will have major cognitive challenges because students are being impacted by extreme heat and extreme smog over long periods of time," said Lahore-based education activist Baela Raza Jamil. "The poorest are most vulnerable. But climate change is indeed a great leveller and the urban middle class is also affected." Pakistan's summers historically began in June, when temperatures hit the high 40s. But in the last five years, May has been similarly hot, according to the Meteorological Department. "During a power outage, I was sweating so much that the drops were falling off my forehead onto my desk," 15-year-old Jannat, a student in Lahore, told AFP. "A girl in my class had a nosebleed from the heat." Around a third of Pakistani school-age children — over 26 million — are out of school, according to government figures, one of the highest numbers in the world. And 65 percent of children are unable to read age-appropriate material by age 10. School closures affect almost every part of Pakistan, including the country's most populous province Punjab, which has the highest rates of school attendance. Classes closed for two weeks in November over air pollution, and another week in May because of heat. In the previous academic year, three weeks were lost in January to a cold snap and two weeks in May due to heat. Political unrest and cricket matches that closed roads meant more lost days. In Balochistan, Pakistan's poorest province, May heatwaves have prompted early summer vacations for three years running, while in northwestern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, school hours are regularly slashed. For authorities, the choice is often between sending children to school in potentially dangerous conditions or watching them fall behind. In southern Sindh province, authorities have resisted heat-related closures despite growing demands from parents. "It's hard for parents to send their children to school in this kind of weather," private school principal Sadiq Hussain told AFP in Karachi, adding that attendance drops by 25 percent in May. "Their physical and mental health is being affected," added Dost Mohammad Danish, general secretary of All Sindh Private Schools and Colleges Association. "Don't expect better scientists from Pakistan in the coming years." Schools in Pakistan are overseen by provincial authorities, whose closure notices apply to all schools in a region, even when they are hundreds of kilometres (miles) apart and may be experiencing different conditions, or have different resources to cope. Teachers, parents and education experts want a rethink of school hours, exam timetables and vacations, with schools able to offer Saturday classes or split the school day to avoid the midday heat. Izza Farrakh, a senior education specialist at the World Bank, said climate change-related impacts are affecting attendance and learning outcomes. "Schools need to have flexibility in determining their academic calendar. It shouldn't be centralised," she said, adding that end-of-year exams usually taken in May could be replaced by regular assessments throughout the year. Adapting school buildings is also crucial. International development agencies have already equipped thousands of schools with solar panels, but many more of the country's 250,000 schools need help. Hundreds of climate-resilient schools funded by World Bank loans are being built in Sindh. They are elevated to withstand monsoon flooding, and fitted with solar panels for power and rooftop insulation to combat heat and cold.
