There is now growing consensus around the world that continuing use of fossil fuels for producing the increasing need for energy is causing global warming that has already had devastating consequences. Heavy rains and associated floods and wildfires have become common around the world. Pakistan has not been spared these weather events. The floods of 2025 have followed those that did a lot of damage in 2022 and more will come as the globe continues to warm.

This has been an unusual summer for many parts of the world. High temperatures and droughts have affected most of the American west. There were widespread fires that burnt significant acreage in California, Oregon and Washington states. Fires also burnt the forests on Canada's border with the United States. The smoke produced by the fires was visible in cities as far south as Washington, the American capital. There were also fires in Siberia. Heavy rains in India's western states resulted in floods. Heavy rains also affected Pakistan. This has now become a regular feature of the weather pattern in Pakistan. This time around, there were property damages and death in Chakwal, a city southeast of Islamabad.

Heavy rains in the hills that overlook the city brought landslides that destroyed many houses and killed scores of people. Several areas of Punjab, Pakistan's largest province, and the centre of its agriculture-based economy was severely affected. According to Umar Afzal, a deputy manager for hydrology at Pakistan's National Disaster Management Agency, "There have been so many extreme weather events coming together — the urban floods, the........

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