Funding Gender and Climate Resilience in Pakistan and Afghanistan

Nov 13, 2024 | Palwashay Arbab
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Pakistan is significantly affected by climate change, facing a range of environmental and socio-economic challenges. The country experiences severe flooding, particularly during the monsoon season. The devastating floods of 2022, for instance, affected over 30 million people, causing extensive damage to infrastructure and homes. Increasing temperatures lead to frequent and intense heatwaves, impacting public health and agriculture and  prolonged droughts affect water availability and agricultural productivity, threatening food security.

The rapid melting of glaciers in the Himalayas and Karakoram ranges affects river flows, leading to both water shortages and increased flood risks.  Climate change is projected to cause significant economic losses. It is estimated that climate-related events could shrink Pakistan’s GDP by 18-20% by 2050, with its cumulative economic impact estimated to cost Pakistan around $38 billion annually.  

In the past four decades, migration in the face of drought has been a regular bane for desert communities of Southern Pakistan. Since no one had ever intervened to teach them methods of mitigating the effects of natural disasters, they have suffered huge losses in terms of livestock and sometimes even human lives on the long trudge westward to the irrigated farmlands where they could find work.