Experts at a consultation convened by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute urged immediate, locally driven heatwave adaptation to protect lives, livelihoods and Pakistan\u2019s development gains from intensifying heat and drought hazards.<\/p>\n
Zainab Naeem<\/strong>, Head of Ecological Sustainability and Circular Economy at SDPI, warned that global warming trends and abnormal ocean temperature rises noted by the World Meteorological Organization are already intensifying monsoon bursts and raising temperatures, and that a potential El Ni\u00f1o<\/em> event could further worsen extremes. She said Pakistan\u2019s existing heat policies often lack localized implementation and enforcement, limiting effective heatwave adaptation on the ground.<\/p>\n Arif Goheer<\/strong> of the Global Change Impact Studies Centre highlighted the sharp rise in frequency and intensity of climate extremes since 2015 and noted that more than 2,000 heat-related deaths have been recorded in recent years. He called for integrated measures including heat-resilient crops, water management reforms and coordinated drought response plans at provincial and district levels to strengthen heatwave adaptation.<\/p>\n Dr Nausheen Anwar<\/strong> from Karachi Urban Lab described rising urban temperatures as a governance challenge, recalling the 2015 Karachi heatwave that claimed over 1,200 lives. She stressed that night-time temperatures in Karachi have risen by about 2.4\u00b0C and that daytime highs in cities such as Jacobabad and Larkana regularly reach 49\u201350\u00b0C, underscoring the need to address indoor heat exposure and to collect gender-disaggregated, community-based data because heat impacts hit women in informal settlements disproportionately.<\/p>\n Dr Qaiser Imran<\/strong> of the National Institute of Disaster Management urged stronger coordination among provincial and district disaster management authorities and development of policy frameworks to tackle indoor heat. He said institutions like the National Disaster Management Authority exist but require greater implementation capacity to respond to a rapidly evolving climate risk landscape.<\/p>\n Representatives from development and international bodies recommended moving from crisis response to integrated drought management and climate governance. Bushra Gul<\/strong> of the UNDP emphasized nature-based solutions, early warning systems, drought-resistant crops and private sector engagement, while Anam Rathor<\/strong> of the Climate Vulnerable Forum advocated anticipatory finance tools such as climate insurance to protect vulnerable households from disaster-driven income shocks.<\/p>\n Farah Akram<\/strong> of the Pakistan Meteorological Department explained that heatwaves and droughts are interconnected hazards and called for improved drought monitoring, satellite-based forecasting and timely dissemination of warnings to farmers and local communities as part of effective heatwave adaptation. Examples of local initiatives include solar-powered water systems in Sindh and Balochistan cited by Samina Kiran<\/strong> of UNDP, which have enhanced irrigation and drinking water access in drought-affected areas.<\/p>\n Nuzba Shaheen<\/strong> from GCISC warned that climate stress is already undermining food systems, pointing to a rise in poverty from 34 to 39 percent between 2022 and 2023 after the 2022 floods. She identified districts such as Lodhran and Bahawalpur as highly vulnerable to heatwaves and warned that wheat production in the Potohar region faces serious risks from rising temperatures and shrinking adaptation windows.<\/p>\n Speakers agreed that practical heatwave adaptation requires strengthening local implementation, improving coordination across disaster management authorities, expanding early warning and drought monitoring systems, adopting drought-tolerant crops and scaling nature-based solutions and solar-driven water projects. They stressed anticipatory finance, community-led planning and gender-sensitive policies as essential to protect Pakistan\u2019s most exposed communities from worsening heat and drought impacts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Drive heatwave adaptation with local strategies to reduce heat and drought risks across Pakistan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":18232,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pakistan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18233"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18233\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}