Pakistan is on the frontlines of climate change, facing recurring floods, droughts, glacial outbursts, and erratic weather patterns that threaten lives and livelihoods across the country. Despite contributing little to global greenhouse gas emissions, Pakistan consistently ranks among the world’s most climate-vulnerable nations.
At a seminar organized by The Truth International (TTI) in Islamabad, titled “Rethinking Building a Resilient Pakistan: Disaster Management and Climate Adaptation”, Abdullah Khan, Managing Director of the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS), underscored that Pakistan’s climate crisis cannot be divorced from its governance crisis. For him, structural reform in governance is not an option but a survival imperative.
A Security and Policy Perspective
With a background in security and conflict research, Abdullah Khan offered a distinctive perspective that transcended environmental science or political rhetoric. His intervention highlighted the systemic flaws in Pakistan’s governance model that perpetuate vulnerability to climate shocks. By situating disaster management within the broader framework of national stability, Khan made it clear that climate resilience is as much a security concern as it is an environmental or developmental one. Climate-induced disasters, he argued, weaken the state by eroding trust, intensifying poverty, displacing populations, and fueling unrest.
Outdated Provincial Boundaries
Khan traced Pakistan’s governance challenges back to its colonial inheritance. Since independence in 1947, Pakistan has continued with four large provinces—Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Balochistan—despite exponential changes in population, urbanization, and environmental dynamics. These outdated administrative boundaries, he said, hinder effective disaster governance because they are detached from local realities. Vast ecological differences within provinces mean that a single centralized policy cannot adequately address diverse vulnerabilities. For example, Punjab encompasses fertile plains and flood-prone river belts, while Balochistan spans deserts, coastal zones, and earthquake-prone mountains—yet both are governed through rigid centralized systems. This mismatch, Khan stressed, leaves remote communities neglected during disasters.
Centralization and Its Costs
Abdullah Khan noted that the centralization of authority within provincial capitals often delays disaster response. Local communities, whether in Gilgit-Baltistan’s mountainous regions or Sindh’s coastal districts, frequently wait for help that arrives too late. These delays are not simply inefficiencies—they translate into greater destruction, higher death tolls, and long-term destabilization. Pakistan’s recurring floods and glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) exemplify how centralized governance fails to act with the speed and context-specificity that crises demand.
Governance, Security, and Resilience
Drawing on his security expertise, Khan made the case that disasters do not remain environmental challenges alone. Their ripple effects—food insecurity, unemployment, migration, and social unrest—create fertile ground for instability and conflict. Weak governance in the face of disasters can deepen public disillusionment, undermine social cohesion, and strain state legitimacy. In his words, “climate disasters destabilize not just communities but the state itself.” Therefore, governance reform is as much about national security as it is about disaster preparedness.
Call for Smaller Administrative Units
To address these challenges, Abdullah Khan called for the establishment of smaller, climate-responsive administrative units that align with ecological and geographic realities. Decentralization, he argued, is essential for faster decision-making, efficient resource allocation, and community-centered resilience. Localized governance would not only enhance service delivery during crises but also foster long-term development tailored to regional needs. By creating new administrative boundaries and empowering local governments, Pakistan could significantly reduce its vulnerability to disasters while strengthening citizen trust in the state.
Reform as a Survival Strategy
For Khan, governance reform is not a matter of efficiency or modernization alone—it is a matter of survival. He emphasized that resilience cannot be built through ad hoc relief efforts or dependence on international aid. Instead, resilience requires proactive systems that anticipate risks, devolve authority, and ensure accountability at the grassroots level. His message echoed the seminar’s central theme: survival begins where governance meets daily life.
A Call to Action
Abdullah Khan’s intervention was a clear call to policymakers, civil society, and opinion leaders to rethink Pakistan’s governance framework in light of climate realities. By linking climate adaptation with governance reform and national security, he highlighted the urgency of moving beyond outdated structures and political inertia. As Pakistan faces increasingly severe climate shocks, his vision of smaller administrative units and decentralized governance offers not just an alternative model, but a pathway to survival, stability, and resilience.
