Why collective climate action is our only hope

As one of those nations most severely impacted by climate change, Pakistan is at a critical juncture. We are committed to combating its effects and mitigating its causes, as evidenced by our role as a signatory to the Paris Agreement, with a target to halve greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030 and achieve net zero by 2050.

However, we know that these are equally gigantic tasks that no single entity can accomplish alone. The developed world has long understood that climate change is one of the few challenges demanding a truly collective global effort. In our own country, this same principle holds true.

Neither stringent regulatory measures alone, nor community mobilisation, nor the efforts of any single key player can yield the significant results we need. This challenge requires a concerted and unified response from all sectors of our society to create meaningful and lasting change.

However, a crucial question remains: do our climate governance leaders truly understand that without collective action, our efforts to both combat and mitigate climate change will be disjointed and ultimately ineffective? The last 25 years of environmental protection and rehabilitation in Pakistan offer a stark example of this very problem.

Since the introduction of a regulatory framework for pollution control, we've seen a fragmented approach. The sole objective of regulators has often been to enforce laws without fully considering the challenges faced by businesses. In other cases, powerful violators have been able to circumvent the rules, continuing to pollute with impunity.

Meanwhile, our green civil society groups are quick to criticise both regulators and businesses, yet they often remain on the sidelines of the improvement process. When they are brought on board, their advice can be isolated from the on-the-ground realities, leading to recommendations that are impractical for regulators to implement.

This situation is then exploited by businesses, which hire highly competent consultants to create impressive documentation of environmental compliance. This allows them to appear compliant on paper while continuing to operate unsafely on the ground. This cycle of blame and inaction highlights the need for a truly collaborative approach, where all key players work together to address the root causes of climate and environmental issues.

This piecemeal approach, unfortunately, will never be effective in addressing climate change. As a global issue, Pakistan is obligated to demonstrate tangible progress to the international community, particularly if we hope to secure the financial support necessary to combat its effects. Simply acquiring climate finance and using it half-heartedly won't suffice.

The Paris Agreement includes a separate clause on transparency that goes far beyond the simple, stereotypical concept of honest spending. Here, transparency means that both mitigation and adaptation projects, especially those for adaptation, must be carried out through a truly participatory approach. This requires the full support of communities, NGOs, local governments, and the primary project proponent - whether it's a federal or provincial government body.

Without this collective engagement, we won't be able to rely on past excuses, such as a project's failure being due to a lack of public support. Donors will rightly question why a project designed to benefit a community was not supported by them in the first place. This underscores the critical need for a new way of working, one that prioritises collaboration and local ownership from the very beginning.

Given this reality, the only effective bridge between the government and the public is the political party in power. However, the ruling party often offers a seemingly logical excuse for not prioritising urgent climate action: they are already burdened with multiple challenges they promised to address in order to get elected. They argue that to secure votes in the next election, they must show progress on their original promises.

This perspective, unfortunately, demonstrates a lack of vision. Politicians often fail to grasp that if a climate disaster strikes with full force, the public's primary concern won't be about jobs or basic utilities — it will be about their very survival. They fail to see that integrating climate change into their political agenda is not a distraction from other issues, but a fundamental necessity for the future well-being of the nation. Furthermore, they are less motivated to act because their political opponents rarely use climate change as a key issue to criticise them, making it a low-priority concern on the political front.

Unfortunately, the NGO sector, which could partially bridge the gap between the government and the public, also falls short. A handful of well-resourced NGOs, led by affluent individuals and staffed by professionals, are making a sincere effort. However, they lack the capacity to effectively connect a diverse population of over 250 million with various federal and provincial governments that operate with different political ideologies, levels of competence and decision-making autonomy. This is a herculean task that no one organisation can manage alone.

Given these realities, the only way forward is to empower and reform the NGO sector to play a more effective role. A promising solution would be to establish a dedicated framework for climate-related NGOs within the Ministry of Climate Change. This would not only provide specialised regulation for these organisations and separate from the broader NGO framework, but also create a structured programme for capacity-building.

By equipping these NGOs with the necessary skills and resources, they can be a potent force for good, working directly with the public to garner essential support for both climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts across Pakistan. This is our best hope for transitioning from fragmented, individual efforts to the collective action that is so urgently needed.