arachi continues to experience the escalating effects of people migrating due to climate change. Thousands of people relocate every month to the urban centre that is itself facing mounting sea level rise, extreme heat-waves and urban flooding as well as extensive water scarcity. The large number of new residents has worsened the pre-existing residential and infrastructural problems, while increasing the city’s social inequality.

Climate migration refers to the necessary relocation of people due to of climatic transformations and severe weather events. The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) positions Pakistan as one of the leading nations in terms of climate-related displacement incidents. Shrinking agriculture, degradation of Indus delta and water scarcity have become a never-ending crisis for rural communities in Sindh and Balochistan. Floods have also caused devastation and forced people to migrate.

Rivers are drying up, wells emptying and once-fertile lands are facing droughts. The Indus River System Authority has warned of severe water shortages that will force desperate families —farmers, herders or daily wage labourers — to leave their homes in search of survival. Many of them have fled to Karachi, settling in the city’s slums.

These climate migrants arrive in Karachi with little hope. Upon arrival, they are confronted with the harsh economic realities that Karachi’s 30 million residents struggle with day and night. People who were farmers, fishermen or labourers in their villages, find themselves trapped in hard, low-wage work in the megacity. It can be lifting bricks in the scorching sun, cleaning sewer lines without protective gear, or pushing goods in a crowded vegetable market.

Even sweeping the streets in scorching heat can be a chore. There is no safety net in the informal economy and no contract, no guarantee of a decent wage and no protection from abuse. Women and children are particularly vulnerable in such situations. They are frequently forced into domestic servitude or hazardous child labour.

It is not unreasonable to say that some of the industries in Karachi thrive on this cheap, disposable workforce. At the same time, the migrant workers become a burden on the city. Most of them are registered in their native villages and not the city they’re working in. This means that their official share of water will be at their native district and they will be entitled to social security from there. These people live in a big city like Karachi and use its infrastructure without being counted in the census.

Experts on urban housing and climate adaptation explain that uncontrolled urban growth combined with insufficient infrastructure systems makes climate migrants more susceptible to risks in cities. Research indicates that Karachi receives more than 45,000 new migrants each year who flee their hometowns due to climate-induced disasters including floods, droughts and coastal erosion.

Developing inclusive housing policies and using urban planning to handle the humanitarian crisis created by climate-induced displacement is necessary. It is also imperative to investigate how climate migrants experience socioeconomic challenges when they settle in Karachi’s informal communities. The displaced communities in Karachi experience restricted access to housing together with healthcare and livelihoods. This intensifies their susceptibility to risks.

Despite the increasing number of climate migrants, Karachi’s urban policies remain ill-equipped to handle large-scale displacement. The Provincial Disaster Management Authority has limited resources to manage climate-related crises effectively. Urban planning remains weak, with authorities failing to integrate climate adaptation strategies into Karachi’s development model. A lack of affordable housing, poor infrastructure planning and insufficient investment in public services further worsen the crisis.

Karachi has reached a breaking point. Waves of climate migrants, displaced by rising seas, scorching heatwaves and dying farmlands, are overwhelming the city’s crumbling infrastructure, exposing the dire lack of housing, healthcare, water and employment. Years of unchecked urban sprawl, weak governance and absent disaster planning have left the city unprepared for this crisis. Without urgent intervention, Karachi risks becoming uninhabitable for its most marginalised residents.

The solution demands immediate, systemic change: climate-proof infrastructure, robust disaster response systems and social safety nets for the displaced. But policies alone aren’t enough; real resilience will require collaboration across all levels of government, NGOs and communities.

The government needs an urgent policy response to address this growing humanitarian crisis in Karachi. It needs to formally acknowledge climate displacement and create a policy of social, economic and basic access to the community through resettlement programs. Investing in climate-resilient production can mitigate these disasters, while strong disaster response systems and social protection, along with support for BISP programs, can help people. All these measures to empower the most vulnerablewill ensure that the solutions are based in the reality of those most affected. The crisis will only deepen if urgent action is not taken.

Muhammad Toheed is a Karachi-based urban planner and geographer.

Azhar Mehmood is a development practitioner from Bahria University