Safia Ramzan
The federal cabinet’s decision to declare a climate and agriculture emergency may appear overdue, but it is a critical acknowledgement of the scale of devastation caused by the latest floods across Punjab and other regions. The haunting images of submerged villages, devastated crops, dead livestock, and displaced families are not just visuals of a natural calamity—they are testimony to Pakistan’s fragility before recurring climate shocks. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has moved to establish a special committee tasked with assessing the damage, compensating farmers, and formulating recommendations to mitigate the unfolding economic crisis. Yet, the challenge before the state extends far beyond immediate relief.
The floods have once again tested the state’s capacity to rehabilitate displaced communities, preserve food security, and restore livelihoods. The immediate priority must remain relief—direct financial compensation to smallholders, soft loans to enable cultivation of the next crop, and provision of food, fodder, and veterinary services to stave off a health crisis. Without urgent action, Pakistan risks both famine-like conditions in rural belts and inflationary shocks in urban centres. The possibility of food scarcity may also require timely imports and strict action against hoarding. But even the most generous relief remains insufficient if long-term strategies are ignored.
The recurring devastation of infrastructure, agriculture, and human settlements by floods, droughts, and heatwaves makes one reality unavoidable: Pakistan’s economic survival hinges on sustained investment in climate adaptation. Relief is a moral duty; resilience is a constitutional responsibility. Declaring a climate emergency is therefore not just symbolic. It is a call for comprehensive climate governance that links policy to practice, and promises both justice for the vulnerable and sustainability for future generations.
The prime minister’s emphasis on a comprehensive strategy is timely. Climate change has become Pakistan’s most formidable economic challenge, dwarfing even short-term political crises. Fortunately, a framework already exists in the 31-point Declaration on Rights of Nature and Climate Justice, prepared under the Breathe Pakistan initiative. Drawing inspiration from Article 9A of the Constitution, which guarantees environmental rights, the declaration urges the state and civil society to work together to restore ecological balance, safeguard communities, and build a climate democracy. This vision demands urgent translation into national law and provincial action plans.
The challenge, however, is not simply environmental—it is deeply structural. Pakistan requires sweeping legal and administrative reforms that strengthen disaster management institutions, empower local governments, and enforce land-use planning. Climate vulnerability cannot be reduced if floodplains are illegally encroached, wetlands are destroyed, and forests are sacrificed to unregulated development. Equally, provincial autonomy must work hand in hand with federal leadership. Disasters transcend provincial boundaries, and resilience requires cooperative federalism rather than political point-scoring.
Businesses and elites must also recognize that climate change is no longer a remote rural problem. Every factory, financial market, and urban settlement carries the costs of climate breakdown. Disruptions to supply chains, destruction of infrastructure, and rising energy insecurity directly threaten profits and productivity. High-net-worth individuals and corporations must therefore invest in adaptation as a national obligation. From funding reforestation to supporting renewable energy and community resilience projects, the private sector has a role that cannot be outsourced to government alone.
Civil society, too, must rise beyond rhetoric. Pakistan’s floods have shown the importance of volunteerism, yet a more sustained civic partnership is required to build awareness, monitor government action, and support vulnerable groups. Climate change is not a single disaster to be endured; it is a permanent reality demanding continuous engagement. Women, youth, and marginalized communities must be included in decision-making, for they are both the most affected and the most capable of driving change at the grassroots level.
The declaration of a climate and agriculture emergency should therefore be the beginning of a new political compact. Pakistan must reorient its economy around resilience—investing in sustainable agriculture, climate-smart irrigation, and renewable energy while phasing out extractive and short-term development models. The old cycle of disaster, relief, and neglect has left the country trapped in vulnerability. What is required now is foresight: a binding national plan that integrates constitutional guarantees, provincial implementation, and global cooperation.
If this moment is lost, Pakistan will remain at the mercy of extreme weather events that will grow deadlier with time. Declaring an emergency is only the first step; building a resilient, just, and sustainable Pakistan is the real task.
