Karachi Climate Festival calls for immediate, stringent measures to tackle climate change

The Arts Council of Pakistan hosted the fourth Karachi Climate Festival on Thursday to celebrate World Environment Day, highlighting the effects of climate change in the metropolis.

Opening with the Climate Risk Index 2025 — where Pakistan ranks among the most vulnerable countries globally — the festival discussed unjust water distribution, climate-health linkage, media role in climate awareness in Karachi, among other things.

The panel was moderated by Afia Salam, who was joined by Muhammad Toheed, Munazza Siddiqui, Mahapara Khan, Saeed Baloch, and Yasir Khan as panellists.

Muhammad Toheed, a Karachi-based urban planner, highlighted that the city faced two most alarming challenges: rising temperature and urban flooding.

“The city’s average daytime temperature has gone up by 1.6 degrees Celsius while night time temperature has increased by 2.4 degrees,” said the urban planner, quoting a study done at Karachi Urban Lab on MET [Pakistan Meteorological Department] data of 60 years.

Exploring the linkage between climate change and public health, Public Health Expert Mahapara Khan outlined the rising prevalence of waterborne diseases, temperature-induced illness, and respiratory issues due to vehicular emissions and unregulated fuel burning.

“Diseases are increasing due to rising temperatures. This includes dengue fever, polio, diarrhea, pneumonia, lung and cardiovascular diseases,” she said.

Immediately, after this, the moderator Afia Salam interrupted — who is a renowned environmental expert — and explained the connection between high temperature and dengue fever by saying, “due to rising temperature, dengue fever increases [in Karachi] as dengue mosquitoes are now breeding in the areas where it not used to do.”

Munazza Siddiqui, a senior journalist, expressed concerns over limited climate reporting and coverage, saying this niche does not get coverage because the public pays very little attention to such news.

Furthermore, she eliminated the misconception of the media not giving proper coverage to climate change.

She gave an example of it by saying, “heatstroke-related deaths are under-reported because when the reporters go to hospitals [to get data], they are told unofficially by the hospital staff that they got instructions from senior government officials that heatstroke-related deaths should be put in other health categories… government officials — including politicians and bureaucrats — want to protect their public image.”

Yasir Hussain, environment expert and head of Climate Action Centre Karachi, stressed the importance of climate data and public awareness, urging the government to support community-led adaptation programs across urban and rural Pakistan.

The General Secretary of Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum Saeed Baloch shed light on the vulnerability of coastal communities to climate change. He condemned the dumping of untreated industrial wastewater into the Arabian Sea, a practice that threatens aquatic ecosystems and traditional livelihoods.