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he recent rise in the frequency of cloud bursts and torrential rains has brought focus to the myriad costs of resultant urban inundation in Pakistan. When cities are inundated by environmental impacts—whether by rising seas, extreme floods, droughts or other climate-related severities—it is not just their physical structure that is overwhelmed, but also their cultural, economic, educational and political hubs that are left severely damaged. The collapse of cities is a major problem since cities are considered sine qua non of civilisations. Civilisations are not just abstract entities rather they are embodied in the functioning of their cities, their infrastructure and ability to adapt.
It was growing cities in the first place that, due to increasing population and thrust of industrialisation, altered the environment through pollution and intensive resource demand. Urbanisation needs continuous and ever-increasing supply of resources. This, in turn, pressures surrounding ecologies causing depletion of natural resources, clearing of forests and pressure on fertile lands to produce more and more for the people living in nearby cities. Since the consumerist wish-list of city dwellers is unending and the availability of natural resources limited, an incessant tug of war between city dwellers and the environment is evident.
Consequent upon the ever-increasing energy and food requirements of the cities, “tens of millions of hectares of forests have been lost, with tropical forests the primary source of new agricultural land in the last years of the Twentieth Century,” and indeed as much as “99 percent of deforestation in the tropics is driven by agricultural expansion,” Peter Frankopan argued in The Earth Transformed. Pakistan, like many other South Asian countries, has become a classic case of the phenomenon being at the receiving end of disastrous environmental catastrophes. Although they contribute only a small fraction of GHG emissions, particulate pollution in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal has risen by 47 percent since the start of this century, Frankopan claims.
Unfortunately, governments in Pakistan have given little attention to urban planning. Facilitated by an increasing demand for housing, a large number of private housing societies have made exorbitant profits and secured no-objection certificates sometimes through questionable means. Many of these have occupied state-owned land on banks of rivers and drains.
The pressures of environmental degradation cause the disasters resulting from the natural cycles of droughts and heavy rains more extreme. When the course of flood waters is narrowed or blocked, it pushes through with pent up force severely hitting infrastructure.
As of the 2023 Population and Housing Census, around 39. 82 percent of Pakistan’s population lives in urban areas. The rapid urban expansion is driven by rural-to-urban migration due to factors such as access to education and healthcare, conflicts and climate disasters in rural areas. In a period when our economy needs a lot of foreign direct investment, generally attracted by urban centres, urban flooding is a catastrophic challenge. This can drive away investment from the cities failing to address the problem.
More infrastructure development projects are executed in urban areas than in rural areas, partly because of the electoral dividends. However, when roads, bridges, underpasses and mass transit public transport systems are damaged or submerged due to heavy flooding and electricity supply and telecommunication networks are bogged down, businesses and public services face severe disruptions. Overflow of sewage systems and mixing of sewer water with flood waters across urban Pakistan is the most serious problem.
Most of Pakistan’s major hospitals and educational institutions are located in cities. People from rural areas travel to these centres to access public services. Thus, urban flooding not only disrupts service delivery to urban dwellers but also to the people of rural areas who are stopped from travelling to cities. Particularly, hard-hit are those living in low-income urban settlements, often built on riverbanks, drainage channels and streams. Consequently, thousands of homes are partially damaged or completely destroyed each year in major cities like Karachi, Lahore, Hyderabad, Faisalabad and Peshawar. This year has brought destruction to even medium sized cities such as Gujranwala, Chakwal, Sialkot and Nowshehra.
Unprecedented precipitation has been witnessed across the country. Karachi has seen heavy downpour recently causing severe traffic paralysis that made it difficult for ambulances, fire brigades and rescue workers to operate. Many urban families were forced to relocate temporarily. The irresponsibly disposed of solid waste has been found clogging drains.
According to a report of the Asian Development Bank, urbanisation is projected to continue, with the urban share of the population expected to reach 40 percent by 2030. Some projections suggest that 50 percent of Pakistan’s population may be urban by 2050. This is a self-explanatory trend. It will create new challenges and opportunities for infrastructure, urban planning, housing, public services, economic prospects and governance. Cities are not simply physical infrastructures; they are the nerve centres of nations and civilisations. Pakistan’s cities are at the threshold of environmental catastrophes in unprecedented ways; this necessitates an equally unprecedented response in both resolve and ingenuity.
The writer heads the History Department at University of Sargodha. He has worked as a research fellow at Royal Holloway College, University of London. He can be reached at abrar.zahoorhotmail.com. His X handle: AbrarZahoor1.