The unholy trinity: Climate, gender and governance injustice

Climate Change is a frustrating topic. Especially when the news and situation appears to be getting worse by day. In Pakistan’s case, the world’s radar recognizes it as a flashing hotspot for climate disasters. The sensitivity of climate issue in this country is stuck between politicized debates, a plodding pace to progress, countless challenges and a complete bureaucratic failure. We may choose to turn a blind eye to this calamatious issue but we must not forget that we are at a critical juncture, where we have seen devastating climatic events that have shaken our country to its core.

As the 5^th most vulnerable country to climate change, we have to admit that we are the least prepared as well. It is time to replace the term “vulnerable” and “unprecedented” with something that actually shows our failure in addressing these issues along highlighting what we have been doing for decades. The phenomenon, which the government uses is called “victim syndrome” or “victim card” as it helps in hiding their flawed governance and irresponsible attitude towards addressing climate change. The political and institutional inabilty of governing bodies in mitigating such existential crisis has caused angst to run amok among its citizens. The failure in addressing sensitive issues regarding the affect of climate change on female population is mainly due to lack of gender-segregated data, little to no mainstream coverage and the absence of women in policy-making.

The lack of attention in addressing gender disparities has tarnished Pakistan’s image by placing it at 145^th on the global gender gap index 2024. These inequalities have undermined gender-sensitive and gender-responsive governance along with highlighting the inabilty to give societal acceptance to gender-based violence (GBV).

In such an environment, we may not be able to help but the least we can do is raise awareness and give potential solutions for something that has been a festering wound for years. I would like to suggest some climate governance and gender justice strategies that can save us from future disasters, that is if they are taken into consideration.

The policy landscape of Pakistan has been criticized for launching new policies without any introspection on the outcomes of its previous ones, and it has become a chronic concern, particularly evident in its climate policies. Pakistan’s national policy has been criticized for lacking visionary approach, inclusivity, and contemplation on its past experiences. Therefore, Pakistan must have a national policy ecosystem that aligns with its evident climate targets to cope up with policy incoherence. Our national climate policy marginally aligns with our unrealistic aims and global trends, which creates a surfeit of inconsistency. Most of our policies are only declaratory, that are meant to please the public and the international community. We never allocate budget for those policies, because we never allot sustainable budget for climate governance in the first place.

The harsh truth facing Pakistan today is its weakening institutional framework. We have to educate ourselves on how climate issues have evolved, how to strengthen our institutional coordination, generate a national plan, address sensitive gender issues together along with deepening our understanding on climate dynamics. There is an absence of coordination within the federal ministers, federation & the provinces. As we have traditionally moved from one policy to another, this has created a lack of cohesion and a culture of policy churn. The absence of provincial departments from strategic discussions has created a communication gap that makes our situation even more vulnerable. As we are suffering form an acute first generational policy-making, we do not have a consensus within our federal ministers and provincial departments in the first place. Therefore, we must have a Paris Agreement of our own to address these vital issues.

As climate change is looming over like a ticking time bomb, Pakistan’s cry for a third tier of governance grows. Climate vulnerability is not primarily a local issue, but it can be addressed by empowering local bodies to tailor solutions, building climate resilience, taking rapid action on eco-violence, allocating resources, conducting reforestation drives, and addressing local climate risks. The condition of local bodies in Pakistan has been under a constant transition. As local bodies have faced a lot of inconsistencies, they are almost in a state of defunct now. Our climate adaptation policies will work their best at local level, but how will they function if our country snubs local bodies? The aversion which our sequential governments have is that local bodies might exceed their power and this fear has inhered itself into our political culture. Local authorities do not have enough capacity to provide relief as they have a huge governance vaccum along with having minimal budget allocations.

In a house of fire, Pakistan cannot afford to silence half of its country’s occupants by excluding them from decision-making tables. The voice of women must be heard at the decision-making tables because the impact of such calamities has doubled on the underprivileged class of our society. Women are more prone to gender-based violence(GBV) during such calamaties that exacerbate emotional trauma and health risks associated with climate disasters. As we have a handful of women at directorial and statutory positions, these issues remain unnoticed. According to the World Economic Forum, only 24% of women workforce in Pakistan is working and the country stood at 112^th in women political empowerment. The prevalence of such violent and discriminatory acts during extreme climate events includes various forms of abuse, such as sexual assault, human trafficking, child marriages in trade of money, and honor killings. As the well-being of women is a marginal concern for the authorities during climate migration and catastrophies, these cases are often underreported. Furthermore, Pakistan’s political, economic, and security crisis has always critically delayed action and attention to such existential issues.

In the eye of climate storm, the call for climate justice echoes through the distressed voices. As most of the victims of climate change in Pakistan are from similar socio-economic and marginalized background, it is crucial to develop a long-term view after decades of climate-induced disasters. The poor progress on SDGs is yet another alarming concern for the underprivileged communities in Pakistan. The white strip on our flag represents the minorities of our country, who are still not lifted from the ghettos. In Pakistan, poverty and climate vulnerability are two sides of the same story, and they are listed in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as well. Government should pick volunteers from each community, lend them financial and administrative support along with making climate literacy a priority. NGOs such as Akhuwat and Al-Khidmat can cooperate with the government and empower those communities in becoming self-sufficient.

As the climate crisis deepens, so does the vicious cycle of destruction along with the dark shadows of corruption that have silently webbed around us. In response to this threat, government should clear natural water channels and riverbeds that have been occupied by illegal encroachment, influential lobbing, extended urbanization, highways and roads that have intersected with natural waterways. Deforestation, mainly driven by illegal wood smuggling and bribes has widened water channels, increased water velocity and altered natural drainage route that increased the risk of flooding. These factors caused extreme floods that have wiped off every bit of infrastructure in its way, thus making our situation more susceptible to such catastrophies. Extreme climate events are not in our control, but the devastation caused by poor infrastructural planning and corruption, that enables such expansions in the first place, are within our command. Instead of playing the “vulnerability” card, we must take notice of the wrongdoings that are committed within our country, and why not; clarity begins at home.

In line with global trends, Pakistan must metamorphose its response towards addressing climate change and catastrophic disasters by using synthetic/artificial intelligence for accurate precision in order to predict climate disasters. AI is indeed being used by Pakistan, but there is a lot of room for expansion as these strategies have limited scalabilty, and they are not fully integrated into our national climate policy. The Ministry of Information Technology & Telecom (MoITT) drafted a 41-page document on the National AI Policy of Pakistan that highlights the importance of AI as a transformative force. However, it has a limited portion for accurate ‘Weather Prediction and Analysis by using AI’ because the main focus has been confined to a lot of unrealistic aims, considering the country’s policy incoherence and economic instability, integrating AI is not a seamless process. Current techniques used by the Pakistan Meteorological Department include statistical post-processing techniques, radar imaging, GCM20 & RegCM4 which helps in regional climate modeling. This country is already facing so many challenges related to climate change that AI management systems are an urgent need in improving its weather predictabilty and effective climate mitigation.

As the urban carbon emission levels are a silent killer, Pakistan must invest in renewable energy sources and electric vehicles that will help in combating carbonization. Pakistan could not meet the deadline for the year 2020 that was given by the United Nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In the Paris Agreement, Pakistan assured that carbon emissions will drop by 30% till 2030. According to the NDC (Nationally Determined Contributions) report, carbon emissions have increased by more than 20% since 2015. Pakistan’s reliance on fossil fuels, especially on coal power plants, must be shifted to sustainable energy sources that will mitigate environmental risks, health risks etc. Our energy policy faces serious challenges in syncing with global trends and that has more to do with our reliance on fossil fuels. We must ensure that 30% of automobiles in this country will be electric vehicles because the urban air pollution levels are alarming. There must be a progressive shift towards solar energy because Pakistan has a huge potential for it in various deserts including Thar, Cholistan and in the northern part of the country.

Pakistan must have a proper disposal for industrial waste and marine debris to save its hydrological systems along with marine biodiversity from further contamination. On page 30 of the NDC report, Pakistan have mitigation policy actions for six crucial sectors including industrial processes and waste disposal. Rivers are already tainted into massive sewers caused by large-scale industrial waste disposal, and by decades of poor monitoring. Just like other countries, Pakistan should also go for artificial wetlands to divert industrial waste and floods to curtail bioaccumulation. As our own acts of environmental degradation were not enough, large quantity of untreated toxic water flows from India that further fan the flames. As territorial diplomacy does not work, addressing these issues without regional support raises serious concerns.

Since the Indus Water Treaty, both countries have not fought over water allocations but they have faced the worst climate catastrophies. There can be some modifications made in that treaty to curb new climate changes including new water allocation strategies, not jointly flushing water into rivers, addressing water pollution and strengthening environmental governance.

To sum up, I would like to remind that all of these policy recommendations or strategies are only a gentle reminder of what is needed to be done at an institutional level. The list of actions that should be taken at an individual level are never ending. However, in this quagmire, the path ahead is uncertain, but these crucial steps can have a huge impact on our overall entangling and unsettling situation. As citizens of a country suffering from devastating climate catastrophies, policy incoherence, and feeling at wit’s end is absolutely plausible.

Howbeit, being anxious might motivate us into educating ourselves on evolving climate dynamics, gender disparities, poor policy games, and climate governance. Eco-angst (feeling of guilt about one’s own actions) might compel to remain optimistic, raise awareness on gender-based violence, cooperate with the government, and have realistic aims that would only be possible if we take a critical insight on our policies.