Sizzling cities

FRANCE recently saw temperatures cross 40 degrees Celsius. As extreme heat gripped the country, people panicked. Trying to beat the heat, many drowned while taking a dip in canals and rivers. Unable to maintain bearable temperatures inside, thousands of schools and other public facilities shut down. Living spaces, transit stations and healthcare facilities in French cities are designed to manage extreme cold, and not extreme heat. Small windows and the absence of domestic cooling appliances such as fans have made living conditions even more unbearable in summer.

The outdoors is not hospitable either in the blistering heat. With the sun rising in Paris at about 5.45 am and setting at 10 pm, exposure to the heat has been truly extensive. In this chaos, solutions such as the installation of air conditioners are being pushed. However, experts believe this is not a holistic solution. Cities in Europe and elsewhere must redesign their built environment to keep pace with the growing impact of climate change.

Climate predictions for Pakistan indicate that life in many of our cities will become increasingly difficult, too, as heat levels turn unbearable. Jacobabad, Larkana, Sibi, Turbat, Multan, Karachi and Lahore will be severely impacted in summers. The larger cities are vulnerable due to high-density locations, unpredictable urban basic services and an unliveable built environment. Our present response is well below the desired level. Climate-related challenges include droughts, unpredictable rates of precipitation, depletion of water aquifers, waterlogging and salinity, melting glaciers, flash floods, unpredictable monsoons, acid rain, drastic reductions in forest cover, marine pollution and rising sea levels. Unregulated real estate development and regressive changes in land use have aggravated the problem. It is commonly observed that forests and agricultural tracts are zoned for residential, commercial and industrial use without administrative sanction. No proper professional appraisal or mandatory environmental assessment is done to decide such crucial matters.

Different areas of the country are facing challenges with respect to sustainability. Coastal locations are also suffering, especially as traditional ecosystems like the once dense mangrove forests located in Karachi’s creeks, are felled as a result of coastal communities looking for firewood and the greed of real estate developers getting the better of the public interest.

Holistic solutions are needed to combat the heat.

Moreover, uneven land reclamation by ambitious developers has blocked water flows to the mangroves, causing their death. The marine ecology is also impacted by raw sewage. At present, Karachi dumps more than 400 million gallons of sewage into the Arabian Sea on a daily basis. Human waste, sludge, acids, biodegradables and toxic substances are some of the ingredients that pass untreated into the sea. Unchecked oil spills from ships are also a source of pollution. Thousands of tonnes of used oil are discharged along the coast without effective monitoring. All of these factors need to be scientifically analysed if we are to come up with workable prevention, mitigation and adaptation plans.

Luckily, some headway has been made in this respect. The Delta Blue Carbon project is a success story from Sindh. It has set into motion an effective mangrove restoration exercise. The Karachi Climate Action Plan was prepared in 2022 and was made available to the Karachi Metr­o-p­­o­litan Corporation. What is needed is a legal and administrative mandate to ensure the smooth implementation of this plan.

The Lahore Clim­ate Action Plan has been initiated under the stewardship of the Punjab government. Given the dangers that the smog brings to the city, the authorities would do well to have in place sound measures to counter this yearly menace; these must be implemented on a war footing. Adequate monetary and human resources must be allocated tow­ards the plan’s implementation.

Urban cooling initiatives must be pushed for speedy implementation across our cities. Climate adaptation strategies can include nature-based solutions: extensive development of wetlands across river systems; conservation of green belts and other public spaces for tree cover; and retrofitting of school and hospital buildings for better ventilation. Residential spaces should be appraised to ensure better ventilation and protection from the direct rays of the sun; and emergency shelters must be built in accordance with climate-controlled design standards to facilitate people during periods of extreme heat. Similar steps must be promoted in other cities of the country as none shall be spared the effects of climate change.

The writer is an academic and researcher based in Karachi.

Published in Dawn, July 10th, 2026

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