Kunwar Khuldune Shahid
As Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif signed a historic defense pact with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman in Riyadh on Wednesday, back home, Pakistan was reeling from the aftereffects of some of the worst flooding in the country’s history. The juxtaposition was inevitable, given Pakistan’s 20 percent increase in defense funding in July, in a budget where overall federal expenditure was slashed – just as floods were ravaging northern parts of the country.
The destruction has left over 2 million homeless, more than a thousand dead, and a significant percentage of Pakistan’s population, 40 percent of whom live below the poverty line, fighting for survival. This year’s crisis comes three years after at least 1,700 were killed, more than 30 million people affected, and up to 10 million acres of agricultural land destroyed in the 2022 floods that caused damages exceeding $15 billion. Pakistan continues to struggle to raise funds for disaster management.
Pakistan was listed as the most vulnerable country to environmental effects by the Climate Risk Index in 2022. The country experiences frequent floods, which this year were caused by excessive monsoon rains in both the northeastern and northwestern areas, as well as glaciers melting in the Gilgit-Baltistan region owing to rising temperatures. With over 13,000 glaciers, more than any place in the world outside the Earth’s polar regions, Pakistan is increasingly suffering from global warming.
As glacial ice melts, flooding is further aggravated by construction activities close to rivers in the region. The infrastructure around the rivers, such as barrages, dams, bridges over rivers, and the encroachment of land for agriculture, has been a major cause of flood devastation.
“We need a rethink on how we approach rivers. These floods were exacerbated by climate change; they weren’t caused by them,” environmental lawyer Ahmad Rafay Alam told The Diplomat.
While the government has been urged to discourage the misuse of land, real estate developers have been a major culprit. Housing societies near the Ravi River, for instance, have been seen submerged in floodwaters this year. “If you want to build near a river, at least take some of the profits from your investments and put them into securing your properties,” said Alam.
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