Behind Pakistan’s repeated floods: Melting glaciers, depleted forests

It was a regular day, and 26-year-old Muntazer Mehdi had performed his mid-afternoon prayers. Then, aft lunch, the mountains started growling.

The tailor, who lived successful Chogogrung colony astatine the foothills of the Siachen glacier – the world’s second-largest non-polar glacier – knew what helium had to do: Run.

Mehdi, his woman and their 2 children had to fly their location successful precocious July aft glacial melting led to a water outburst. “We knew what was coming due to the fact that of however large the clanking of the rocks was, and the h2o watercourse stopped,” helium said. “We had conscionable capable clip to marque it to a higher elevation and prevention ourselves, but each our beingness savings, home, livestock, it’s each gone, wiped retired successful a fewer moments.”

Mehdi and his household walked astir 100km (60 miles) to the adjacent colony and from determination hitched a car thrust to get to Skardu, the largest metropolis successful the area.

Theirs is 1 of galore akin stories to person emerged successful caller weeks from Gilgit-Baltistan, a portion of Pakistan-administered Kashmir wherever floods person submerged full villages, particularly successful Ghizer district.

Pakistan is facing a multitude of clime emergencies – its forests are shrinking, glaciers are melting faster than anticipated, and present catastrophic rains are devastating communities.

Rampant deforestation has eroded earthy buffers, portion warming upland temperatures weaken glaciers, destabilising landscapes and exposing radical to landslides and floods.

Glacier outburst flood blocked Ghizer river, enactment residents surviving adjacent slope of the stream astatine risk, the stranded radical successful flood managed to cross, flood damaged Talidas village. pic.twitter.com/FsYbvDxL8f

— Jamil Nagri (@jamilnagri) August 22, 2025

These intersecting threats person collided this twelvemonth arsenic the monsoon rains and uncommon cloudbursts person slammed bluish regions similar Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

The h2o has past pushed downstream, creating havoc successful different parts of Pakistan excessively – the harm amplified by the operation of residential societies adjacent stream banks and implicit flood plains successful caller decades.

In this year’s monsoon, since June 26, astatine slightest 804 radical person died, a bulk of them successful Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

What’s happening to Pakistan’s glaciers?

A survey by EvK2CNR, an Italian nonprofit that focuses connected technological probe successful high-mountain environments, successful 2024 revealed that Pakistan is location to 13,032 glaciers, which screen 13,546.93 quadrate kilometres (5,230 quadrate miles) crossed the basins of the Gilgit, Indus, Jhelum, Kabul and Tarim rivers.

Pakistan has the largest measurement of glacial crystal for immoderate state extracurricular polar regions.

Uniquely, the gathering constituent of 3 large upland ranges, the Hindu Kush, the Himayalas and the Karokaram lies successful Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

Glacial crystal is besides a large root of h2o for Pakistan’s 220 cardinal people.

The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), a consortium of determination countries that the Hindu Kush and Himalaya upland ranges span, conducted a survey that indicates that the Hindu Kush and Himalayan glaciers disappeared 65 percent faster successful the 2011-2020 play than successful the erstwhile decade.

According to Zakir Hussain Zakir, the manager of readying and improvement astatine University of Baltistan, the complaint of melting is 10-30 metres (33-100ft) per twelvemonth successful the Himalayas, 5-10 metres (16-33ft) successful the Hindu Kush, and 2-3 metres (7-10ft) successful the Karokaram. Glacial crystal is melting faster than caller snowfall tin replenish, arsenic summers get longer.

“The melting has accelerated owed to planetary warming, wherever Pakistan remains a tiny contributor,” says Dawar Hameed Butt, main advisor of Climate Action Pakistan (CFP).

This warming has acceptable successful question a unsafe cycle: Higher temperatures accelerate glacier melt, which exposes darker rocky surfaces.

“These surfaces, successful turn, sorb much heat, further speeding up the melting process. We are present witnessing these feedback loops unfold,” helium said.

Zakir Hussain, manager wide of the Provincial Disaster Management Authority successful Pakistan-administered Kashmir (Gilgit-Baltistan) – nary narration to the University of Baltistan world – says the effect of c emanation tin beryllium seen successful existent time.

“Our elders utilized to say, successful our accepted ways, that by August 15, glacier melting would halt and snowfall would commencement packing in. Now, due to the fact that of clime change, the glaciers are melting faster and longer.”

For decades, vale communities person shaped their practices astir the anticipation of unchangeable glaciers, but that presumption is nary longer reliable. The quicker question of glaciers is besides loosening the rocky terrain astir them, expanding the hazard of large-scale landslides.

Zakir of the University of Baltistan says accrued tourism and operation person contributed to glacial melting: Since 2005, erstwhile Skardu’s runway was expanded, ample planes person been capable to ferry travellers to the portion daily. Pakistan’s authorities carrier, Pakistan International Airlines, antecedently relied connected smaller Fokker planes for regular flights to Gilgit, upwind permitting.

“Increased aerial postulation successful the portion is considered a cardinal origin of melting glaciers,” Zakir says.

Hussain of PDMA refutes this and says, “There is nary manufacture successful Gilgit-Baltistan; we nutrient small oregon nary c emissions and are astatine the receiving extremity of it.”

What’s happening to Pakistan’s forests?

Pakistan’s topography spans precocious mountains, fertile plains, deserts, and stream valleys, with crisp contrasts betwixt arid and glaciated zones.

According to European Space Agency WorldCover, astir 2.72 percent of the onshore is covered by snowfall and ice, the largest attraction extracurricular the polar regions. These glaciers provender the Indus River system, which supports astir 90 percent of the country’s agriculture.

Forests screen lone 5.23 percent of land, offering constricted extortion against erosion and floods.

The monsoon delivers astir three-quarters of South Asia’s yearly rainfall, captious for Pakistan’s crops. But implicit the past decade, cloudbursts and heavier rains person triggered flash floods and landslides with expanding frequency.

According to Global Forest Watch, a wood monitoring integer platform, from 2001 to 2024, Pakistan mislaid 95.3sq km (9.53 kilohectares) of wood screen – astir fractional the country of Islamabad, the country’s superior city.

Why are the trees cut?

According to Global Forest Watch, Pakistan is losing histrion screen owed to some imperishable deforestation and impermanent disturbances.

From 2001 to 2024, Pakistan mislaid astir 8 percent of its histrion cover.

At slightest 78% (6,870 hectares) of histrion screen nonaccomplishment was owed to logging, followed by wildfires, astatine 12% (1,080 hectares), imperishable agriculture (492 hectares), impermanent disturbances similar earthy disasters (184 hectares) and caller settlements and infrastructure (179 hectares).

Ahmed Kamal, the further caput of Khyber-Pakhtunkwa’s wood department, says the province’s forests person fallen unfortunate to authorities policies.

Until the 1990s, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa allowed a signifier known arsenic “scientific harvesting” – which progressive the selective felling of aged oregon diseased trees truthful forests could regenerate. But amid allegations that the timber mafia, successful connivance with wood section officials, was misusing the system, the national authorities imposed a broad prohibition connected cutting trees.

This, Kamal said, “has alternatively driven amerciable logging and worsened deforestation”.

According to Kamal, the state-imposed prohibition has wounded forest-dependent communities, erstwhile entitled to 40-80 percent of royalties from ineligible harvesting. Deprived of income, galore turned to amerciable logging, often cutting young trees.

This has eaten into Pakistan’s invaluable deodar reserves. Deodar is known for its fragrance and durability. The wood has insect-repellant and anti-bacterial properties, and is invaluable for aesculapian extract and indispensable oils.

But Adil Zareef, the convener of Sustainable Conservation Network (SCN), a nongovernmental organisation, says successful practice, a caretaker authorities that ruled Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from January 2023 to March 2024 handed implicit what are known arsenic “Guzara forests” to existent property developers. The caretaker authorities was successful bureau aft the provincial assembly was dissolved. Guzara forests  are managed by section tribes oregon individuals that clasp accepted rights implicit the land, and the wood department.

Butt of Climate Action Pakistan told Al Jazeera that deforestation was creating “the conditions for uncontrollable h2o run-off, leaving structures and communities defenceless”.

In districts successful Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, specified arsenic Buner and Swabi, deluges dropped much than 150mm (6 inches) of rainfall successful an hour, triggering flash floods and landslides that destroyed infrastructure and swept distant full villages.

Is this affecting different parts of Pakistan?

As flood h2o cascades downstream, it is combining with unprecedented rains successful bluish Punjab to submerge the bosom of Pakistan’s concern belt. Sialkot metropolis successful Punjab, for instance, was deed with implicit 360mm of rainfall successful 24 hours connected Wednesday, breaking a 49-year record, according to the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD).

Nearly 75km (50 miles) away, the revered Kartarpur Gurdwara, which is connected by a corridor for Sikh pilgrims from India, stood astir wholly submerged connected Wednesday. Pakistani officials person accused India of exacerbating the floods by releasing torrents of h2o from upriver dams, but India has rejected the charge, arguing that it was lone pursuing mean merchandise practices.

Indian aggression highly condemned. Under conspiracy, abruptly a immense quantity of h2o released into rivers by India, resulting successful terrible flooding successful Pakistan.The full Kartarpur country has been submerged. Land of Guru Nanak is wholly nether water. pic.twitter.com/WeqVr7sTsx

— Senator Krishna Kumari (@KeshooBai) August 27, 2025

As Pakistan’s constricted dams and reservoirs, too, scope afloat capacity, the hazard of further floods, demolition and harm continues. The monsoon isn’t implicit – neither is its devastation.

Additional reporting from Peshawar by Ghulam Dastageer