Much of the debate surrounding the ongoing monsoon floods has centred around whether the state is doing or has done enough to prevent flooding. Do we need more dams? Are the country’s rescue and warning systems good enough? What are we going to do to rehabilitate the victims and why are there so many buildings in flood zones? It is easy to begin thinking that Pakistan is the only country facing this problem. It is not. In fact, it is the victim of a global phenomenon that it did next to nothing to bring about. In this context, it was prescient of the deputy prime minister/foreign minister to recently remind everyone that “It is unfortunate that, despite contributing less than one per cent to global emissions, Pakistan continues to be among the top 10 hardest hit by climate change”. Foreign Minister Dar went on to say that the recent floods have inflicted colossal human and economic losses and pose a serious challenge to the country’s recent gains in sustainable development, lamenting the fact that structural deficiencies in the international goals and financial system are aggravating global inequalities and undermining the nation’s development goals. This is the proper way to frame the ongoing crisis. It is no coincidence that the country is drowning while the world experiences its third-hottest August on record, and, regardless of whether or not there have been local inadequacies, this is not a problem that Pakistan can solve alone.
This is not to say that most of the work to prevent repeats of this monsoon next year and the years after will not be down to local leaders. All the talk about the unfairness of climate change and the lack of climate reparations will not change the fact that the 4,355 villages submerged and the approximately 4.2 million people affected by the flooding are ultimately the government’s responsibility. The people simply have no one else to turn to, and only the state can rebuild what has been lost. But this does not mean that the rest of the world, particularly the developed world, cannot help. Indeed, given that most of the emissions causing the elevated heat and rainfalls come from the rich countries, they have a duty to do so. The fact that they seem not only uninterested in giving the level of climate aid and reparations countries like Pakistan and the rest of the Global South need but are actually continuing to drive emissions upwards is unpardonable.
Meanwhile, for Pakistan, the damage continues to pile up. As of writing, India has released another fresh water spill into the Sutlej River, fully or partially inundating at least 76 settlements and impacting almost 65,000 people. What appears to have made this monsoon particularly difficult is that the country has seen an 11 percent rise in rainfall in August at the same time that it is receiving periodic surges of water from the east. This is simply too much for a developing country going through an economic reset to come out unscathed. That the authorities have managed to shift at least 2.1 million people and 1.5 million livestock to safe locations amidst the chaos should not be scoffed at. Long-term preventative solutions like dams, smarter urban planning and a shift to more climate-resilient infrastructure and agriculture will all require investment. A country barely more than a year removed from a potential default will not come up with that money on its own. Global help is needed and deserved.
Editorial Published in The News on September 10, 2025.
