A Call for Climate and Economic Justice for the Flood-affected Communities in Pakistan

Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD) raises concerns about the flooding situation and the worsening climate crisis and its impact on women and communities in Pakistan.

This disastrous flooding in Pakistan this year, triggered by unprecedented monsoon rainfall and glacial melting, has killed over 1,000 people and destroyed hundreds of thousands of homes and millions of acres of crops, affecting more than 30 million Pakistanis and causing billions of dollars in damage.

The southern province of Sindh remains the worst affected. More than 14 million people in the province were severely affected, of which only 377,000 are living in camps right now. Damaged infrastructure is also hampering aid and rescue operations, which cannot keep pace with demand. Some connecting roads in Sindh province have either collapsed, were flooded, or were backed up for days with queuing traffic. Manchar Lake straddles two districts – Jamshoro and Dadu – with an urban population of more than 1 million.

Pakistan’s devastating floods come amid a deepening economic crisis. Forty per cent (40%) of its 230 million people faced food insecurity in 2020, yet only 8.9 million families received assistance to mitigate the impacts of rampant inflation. Poverty is concentrated in rural areas, particularly hard-hit by the floods.

Pakistan is responsible for less than one percent of the world’s planet-warming gases, yet it is the eighth most vulnerable nation to the climate crisis, according to the Annual Report of the Global Climate Risk Index in 2021. It is paying a hefty price, not only with lives but destroyed schools, homes and bridges. The disaster has highlighted the stark disparity between the rich advanced industrial countries that are the largest contributors towards climate change and other countries that though have negligible carbon emissions but bear the brunt of its impact.

Pakistan is among the countries which are most vulnerable to climate change. It faces rates of warming considerably above the global average and likely more frequent and intense extreme climate events. These events are particularly threatening for women and girls; marginalised women, including older women, women with disabilities, women workers, women in poverty, rural and grassroot women. The UN’s reproductive health agency estimates there are almost 650,000 pregnant women in Pakistan’s flood-affected areas, with up to 73,000 expected to give birth in the next month. As homes are submerged to flood or destroyed, women further lack access to better sanitation and reproductive health services.

Due to global warming, water evaporates much faster out at sea and a warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture. So, monsoons risk bringing way too much rain. As the world warms, glacial ice is melting. Glaciers in Pakistan’s Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa regions are melting rapidly, creating more than 3,000 lakes. Around 33 of these are at risk of sudden bursting, which could unleash millions of cubic metres of water and debris, putting 7 million people at risk. The disaster has highlighted the stark disparity between countries that are the largest contributors towards climate change and countries that bear the brunt of its impact.

Also, the present political instability in the country makes it more complicated to come up with strategies to deal with the flood situation. The country’s difficult economic situation also indicates that there aren’t sufficient resources for adaptation projects. At one point last month, annual inflation was measured at 42.3 percent. The country’s debt and inflation situation even before the flooding is already impacting severely the poorest of the poor. Its heavy reliance on imported food and energy has been detrimental to the local economy, and the government’s poor response to the COVID-19 pandemic has further battered the economy.

We reiterate that the crisis in Pakistan is not natural but a result of deliberate choices made to build this model of development which has been further exacerbated by the economic and health crisis. We call for immediate relief and justice for all the victims of the climate crisis, government inaction and history of oppressions.

We raise the following recommendations:

Accountability and provision of immediate relief by the local and national government to ensure welfare of the communities, especially women, affected by the floods.
Climate action and real climate solutions from the global north countries to prevent countries from suffering the consequences of climate change and avoid future catastrophes.
Cancellation of debt which has crippled countries like Pakistan and made them more vulnerable to natural disasters without having the capacity and resources to focus on building preventive infrastructures.