Karachi and other major Pakistani cities are now at the centre of the country’s climate crisis, senior government officials and international partners warned on Friday, saying the growing risk of floods, heatwaves and rapid urbanisation demands immediate investment in climate-resilient housing, infrastructure and public services.
Federal Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal has said that making Karachi and other major Pakistani cities climate resilient is now a question of national survival, warning that Pakistan cannot afford another year of climate disaster and must urgently rebuild homes, infrastructure and public facilities to withstand future floods and heatwaves.
Addressing the Aga Khan University’s conference on climate change and the built environment via video link on Friday, he said recent super floods in 2022 and in 2025 have shown that climate change is no longer just an environmental concern but a development, public health and economic survival issue.
He explained that under the prime minister’s “Uraan Pakistan” National Transformation Framework, the government is reorienting development around climate-smart growth, including resilient housing for low-income families, climate-proof schools and hospitals, and infrastructure that can withstand extreme weather.
Prof. Ahsan Iqbal said climate resilience has been placed at the heart of five pillars of Uraan Pakistan, including climate-smart and green agriculture, climate-tested public infrastructure, and social protection for poor and vulnerable communities.
He said Karachi, sitting at the front line of climate vulnerability, needs comprehensive drainage and flood-mitigation plans, restoration of mangroves as a natural defence wall, heat action plans for informal settlements, waste-to-energy partnerships and smart-city tools to monitor water, heat, air quality and flooding.
Infrastructure that collapses in floods or fails during heatwaves, he said, is not development but negligence, and future public projects will have to pass a climate-resilience test.
Canadian High Commissioner Tariq Khan, attending as special guest, said the challenges facing Karachi and other Pakistani cities demand strong policy implementation and collaboration across governments and communities.
He said Pakistan’s climate pressures reflect a mix of structural gaps, weak governance and rising energy and migration stresses that shape how cities grow and how vulnerable populations cope with extreme weather.
He noted that climate adaptation cannot succeed without building the capacity of local governments and ensuring rule of law, especially when informal settlements and new migrant communities reshape neighbourhoods in cities like Karachi. He said governance gaps, non-adherence to building norms and inequities across class, income and gender intensify the risks that climate shocks bring.
Drawing on examples from his recent travels to northern Pakistan, he said traditional knowledge and low-cost local materials can offer practical solutions, but only if communities are included in planning and if the private sector is incentivised to provide affordable, sustainable options.
He said Canada supports clean-energy partnerships in Pakistan, including solar and wind projects in Sindh, but stressed that transmission infrastructure remains a major bottleneck.
Canadian envoy maintained that climate resilience requires strong civil-society participation and community consultation, and that cities like Karachi have shown in the past that collective action can drive meaningful change.
Climate change, he said, affects health outcomes directly, and the convergence of environment, housing and public health should remain at the centre of policymaking.
Earlier, Prof. Zulfiqar A. Bhutta, Founding Director of the Institute for Global Health and Development (IGHD), said Pakistan is at the epicentre of a “polycrisis” in which climate change, air pollution, water insecurity, extreme heat and social inequalities reinforce one another.
Despite contributing little to global emissions, Pakistan ranks among the most climate-vulnerable countries, he noted, but low- and middle-income states can no longer rely on the world to finance their losses and must invest their own resources and strategic partnerships.
He said climate impacts always fall hardest on those already facing gender disparities, fragile health systems and unsafe housing, especially the urban poor and rural communities forced to live and farm in floodplains.
The conference, he added, is focused on practical, affordable solutions that change infrastructure and planning rather than documenting problems alone.
AKU President Dr Sulaiman Shahabuddin said the university and the Aga Khan Development Network consider climate change a core priority, especially its impact on health.
Reading a special message from AKU Chancellor and AKDN Chairman His Highness the Aga Khan, he conveyed that climate change is a powerful “threat multiplier” that worsens disease, malnutrition, displacement, learning loss and poverty, hitting women, children, older adults and marginalised communities the hardest.
“His Highness stressed that resilience has to begin where people live, learn and seek care, through climate-ready homes, schools, health centres, streets and drainage systems, and that even modest, low-cost measures such as green building guidelines, nature-based solutions and low-carbon materials can have transformative effects”.
Dr Sulaiman said AKDN agencies have been tasked to move towards net-zero emissions by 2030, and that AKU is working to make its own health facilities climate-ready through cleaner energy, better cooling, safe water and stronger emergency preparedness.
He said a climate-resilient Pakistan will require climate-resilient homes, infrastructure and health facilities that remain functional during shocks and can serve as platforms for early warning and community risk communication. Effective governance and enforcement of building standards, he added, are just as important as technical solutions.
Hosted by AKU’s IGHD in collaboration with the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) Pakistan, the two-day conference “Climate Change and the Built Environment: Promoting Resilience and Adaptation in Low-Income Settings” brings together architects, engineers, urban planners, public health experts, lawyers, development practitioners and policymakers.
Keynote speakers, including Professor Sajida Haider Vandal from THAAP, experts from University College London, Laajverd and other institutions, are presenting work on climate-resilient housing, traditional architecture in fragile mountain ecologies, sea-level rise and its impact on Karachi, low-carbon building materials, and net-zero health systems.
The meeting will conclude with a high-level panel and closing session outlining key recommendations for research and action in Pakistan, with a strong focus on protecting vulnerable residents of Karachi and other cities through climate-resilient homes, infrastructure and health facilities.