THE World Meteorological Organisation’s State of the Climate in Asia 2024 report lays bare the continent’s accelerating climate emergency. Last year, Asia warmed at nearly twice the global pace; it matched 2020 as the hottest year in the record books. Marine heatwaves spanned 15 million square kilometres, sea levels along the Indian and Pacific coasts rose faster than the global average, glaciers in the Himalaya and Tian Shan melted at record rates, and weather extremes multiplied — from Central Asia’s worst floods in 70 years to lethal heatwaves across South and East Asia. Pakistan sits squarely in this danger zone. The WMO confirms that the country endured its wettest April since 1961; national rainfall was 164pc above normal, driven by western disturbances that unleashed thunderstorms, hailstorms and flash floods from Balochistan to KP, killing scores and damaging thousands of homes. Abnormal spring deluges then gave way to punishing early-summer heat. As things stand, the warming Arabian Sea threatens ever more potent cyclones. In the north, rapid glacier retreat jeopardises dry-season river flows and heightens the risk of GLOFs.
If the preceding years were not enough of a warning, last year’s events alone should set off alarm bells. Unless Asian governments act collectively, regional food security, coastlines and mountain ecosystems will face cascading crises. A shared adaptation agenda — spanning real-time data exchange, transboundary river management and joint disaster-response drills — must move from communiqués to concrete budgets. For Pakistan, resilience demands whole-of-government urgency. Early-warning systems need last-mile coverage and multilingual messaging. Urban planners must enforce flood-safe zoning and upgrade creaking drainage. Rural investment should expand climate-smart agriculture, recharge aquifers and restore mangroves that reduce wave impact. Above all, finance ministries must prioritise adaptation funding instead of treating it as a discretionary add-on. Climate disruptions have come to form the backdrop of our national development. Preparing for them is not optional but existential.
Published in Dawn, June 25th, 2025
