SWAT: Glacial lake outburst floods (Glofs) have wreaked havoc on people’s lives and livelihoods in the picturesque valleys of Utror, Gabral, and Mankiyal in northern Pakistan.

The residents told Dawn that the catastrophic events triggered by the accelerated melting of glaciers due to climate change had uprooted entire villages, leaving locals displaced and fearing for their future.

A recent report by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) highlights the alarming surge in Glof occurrences in Pakistan, with 83 such events recorded in 2023 alone.

Experts warned that the incidence would escalate, posing a grave threat to the vulnerable communities in those areas.

Residents demand efforts to ease their misery, foster resilience

They said the devastation unleashed by Glofs extended beyond the physical destruction of agricultural lands to profound psychological distress among locals, who grappled with the constant specter of future disasters.

For many residents, the trauma is compounded by the loss of homes, livestock, and livelihoods.

Bilal Khan of the Kamarkhwa area recounted the harrowing ordeal of his family.

“Fortunately, we took refuge on higher ground and were unharmed, but the floodwaters wiped away all of our houses, cattle, and pastures,” he said.

The lives of many others have also been upended by calamitous floods.

Farmers in the Utror area, who were once able to sustain their families through agriculture, are grappling with uncertainty and displacement.

“We used to grow vegetables and earn a livelihood, but now we are landless and struggling to make ends meet,” local grower Mohammad Qasim told Dawn.

Adilzada, another farmer in the area, recounted how the floods of 2022 devastated his entire agricultural land, compelling him to relocate to Mingora and take up labour work for his livelihood.

In response to the urgent humanitarian crisis, the UNDP, in collaboration with the Green Climate Fund, launched the ‘Scaling-up Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (Glof-II) in Northern Pakistan’ project, insisting the initiative is meant to fortify vulnerable communities by erecting protective infrastructure such as safe havens, slope stabilisation measures, and early warning systems.

However, the calamity-hit communities in the upper parts of Swat called for collective action to mitigate the Glof devastation.

They said local and international organisations should join forces to provide essential support and assistance to rebuild shattered lives and safeguard against future disasters.

The residents said Glofs had exacted a heavy toll on the inhabitants of northern Pakistan, and therefore, immediate intervention and sustained efforts were imperative to alleviate their plight and foster resilience in the face of mounting environmental challenges.

A representative of the UNDP said the Glacial Lake Outburst and Floods (Glof-II) Project, funded by the Green Climate Fund and implemented by the UNDP through the Ministry of Climate Change, was executed as a pilot project (Glof-I) from 2017 to 2019 and expanded to Glof-II until Dec 2024.

He added that the project was implemented in 10 districts of Gilgit-Baltistan and five districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, focusing on 16 valleys in GB and eight valleys in KP.

Interventions across the targeted valleys include the construction of protection walls, community centers, safe havens, irrigation channels, slope stabilization works, micro- watersheds, pony tracks, and early warning systems, while soft activities involve forming disaster risk reduction committees, conducting mock drills, awareness sessions, and kitchen gardening training for women, according to him.

“In KP, the progress includes the completion of protection walls, irrigation channels, safe havens, CBDRMC centers, slope stabilisation works, meteorological observatories, and platforms for early warning systems,” he said, adding that kitchen gardening training for women and the establishment of green climate clubs in schools have been carried out.

Published in Dawn, April 15th, 2024