Pakistan's Flood Crisis: A Harrowing Impact of Climate Change

Sun Nov 30 2025 23:08:28 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

The latest reports show that Pakistan is facing unprecedented flooding, worsened by climate change, claiming lives and displacing millions. This article explores the devastating consequences and the urgent need for climate action.

Pakistan is in the midst of a catastrophic flooding crisis exacerbated by climate change, resulting in over 1,000 deaths and affecting nearly 7 million people. As monsoon rains increase in severity, all regions of the country experience varying impacts, with the poorest communities suffering the most. The government faces challenges in enforcing regulations against illegal construction in flood-prone areas, while local initiatives seek to create climate-resilient homes. The situation underscores the urgent need for action in the face of worsening climate conditions.

Rescuers and relatives searched knee-deep in water for the body of one-year-old Zara. She'd been swept away by flash floods; the bodies of her parents and three siblings had already been found days earlier.

We suddenly saw a lot of water. I climbed up to the roof and urged them to join me, Arshad, Zara's grandfather, said, showing the BBC the dirt road where they were taken from him in the village of Sambrial in northern Punjab in August.

His family tried to join him, but too late. The powerful current washed away all six of them.

Every year, monsoon season brings deadly floods in Pakistan. This year it began in late June, and within three months, floods had killed more than 1,000 people. At least 6.9 million were affected, according to the United Nations agency for humanitarian affairs, OCHA.

The South Asian nation struggles with the devastating consequences of climate change, despite emitting just 1% of global greenhouse gas emissions. To witness its effects, the BBC traveled from the mountains of the north to the plains of the south. In every province, climate change was having a different impact, but the poorest suffered the most.

In villages and cities, millions have settled around rivers and streams, areas prone to flooding. Pakistan's River Protection Act - prohibiting building within 200 ft (61m) of a river - was crafted to mitigate such risks, but many find it too costly to relocate.

The floods have displaced over 2.7 million people in Punjab, damaging more than a million hectares of farmland and overwhelming the country's breadbasket. In Lahore, the disparity in impacts on wealthier and poorer communities offers a stark portrayal of injustice as the most vulnerable struggle to recover.

Yasmeen Lari, an architect, has designed climate-resilient houses using sustainable materials, but her ideas underline the reality that it's about saving lives. With each passing year, Pakistan faces the growing and alarming challenges of climate change.