ISLAMABAD: Coverage of glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) in Pakistan’s leading newspapers remains largely event-driven, with 76.8pc of reports focusing on the problem rather than solutions such as preparedness, early warning, adaptation and long-term resilience.
A study, titled ‘Framing of Glacial Lake Outburst Floods in National Newspapers of Pakistan’, analysed GLOF-related news reports, editorials and opinion articles published in leading English and Urdu national newspapers between June 1 and September 30 in 2023 and 2024.
Conducted by climate policy advocacy expert and MPhil research scholar Mohammad Saleem Shaikh at Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU), the research examined the frequency, prominence, themes and framing of GLOF coverage.
The study, conducted in 2024-25, found a significant gap between the scale of GLOF risks facing mountain communities and sustained media attention to risk reduction.
Coverage generally increased following GLOF incidents instead of maintaining consistent attention to preparedness, adaptation, early warning systems and resilience-building. English-language newspapers provided comparatively broader and more detailed coverage, while GLOF stories rarely received prominent front-page placement.
The ‘economic consequences’ framed, dominated the coverage, followed by ‘conflict and human interest’ frames. Reports largely focused on immediate damage and losses rather than long-term coping strategies, policy responses and community resilience.
Pakistan’s northern areas contained more than 13,000 glaciers and constituted an important freshwater reservoir for South Asia, according to the Pakistan Glacier Inventory published in 2024 by Italy-based research organisation EvK2CNR.
The findings were particularly important for Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where nearly two million people faced recurring GLOF risks, said Director General at the Ministry of Climate Change and Environmental Coordination Mohammad Asif Sahibzada.
He said sustained media coverage was essential to climate-risk management, helping communities understand early warnings, preparedness and evacuation procedures while keeping vulnerabilities on the policy agenda.
Prof Saqib Riaz, who was former chairman of AIOU’s Department of Mass Communication, said the research demonstrated that GLOF risk should be viewed not only as a disaster-management issue but also as a communication challenge.
He called for a shift from episodic reporting towards sustained, locally grounded and solutions-oriented coverage to improve public awareness and resilience in vulnerable communities.
Khalil Ahmed, climate expert at UN-Habitat Pakistan and former national project manager of the GLOF risk-reduction project, said effective disaster-risk reduction required not only early warning systems and physical interventions but also sustained public awareness and timely, understandable information.
The study recommends greater and sustained editorial attention to GLOF risks, specialised capacity-building for journalists, stronger collaboration between media organisations and climate and disaster-risk experts and greater inclusion of local community voices.
Published in Dawn, August 17th, 2026
