Pakistan’s climate vulnerability is no longer an abstract warning; it is a lived reality. Ranked among the world’s most climate-exposed and water-stressed countries, Pakistan is confronting a quieter but more persistent emergency: the erosion of its water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) systems under climate pressure. Floods, droughts, heatwaves and erratic rainfall are not only damaging infrastructure but exposing deep governance failures that leave millions without safe water or sanitation.

The devastating floods of recent years provide a stark illustration. In Sindh alone, nearly half of rural water supply schemes became non-functional, thousands of small treatment plants were destroyed and most remaining water sources were contaminated. This devastation was not simply the result of extreme weather. It reflected systems designed for a climate that no longer exists, compounded by fragmented governance and chronic underinvestment in resilience.

Despite repeated disasters, WASH continues to be treated as a........

© Pakistan Observer