Federal Minister for Climate Change and Environmental Coordination Dr Musadik Malik said on Friday that climate disasters, technological disruption and an increasingly unequal global economic order are converging to deepen Pakistan’s economic vulnerabilities, warning that their combined impact could reverse decades of progress made by vulnerable communities.
Addressing a keynote session at the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Karachi University Campus, the minister argued that Pakistan’s economic difficulties could not be understood solely through domestic policy failures, as global commodity cycles, interest rates, geopolitical conflicts and technological changes also shaped the country’s economic prospects.
But it was the human cost of climate disasters that formed one of the central themes of his address.
Referring to flood-hit communities in Gilgit-Baltistan, Dr Musadik Malik said some families had taken three generations to escape poverty, only to lose their homes, livestock, schools, clinics and other assets in a single devastating flood.
He described how communities that had gradually built their livelihoods were pushed back into poverty after floods destroyed the foundations of their economic security.
Recalling the experiences of farmers in Sindh and along the Sindh-Balochistan border, he said some families had returned to their land after repeated floods, driven by their attachment to their ancestral homes, but were eventually forced to abandon farming after successive losses.
The minister also highlighted the dangers faced by workers in Jacobabad, where extreme temperatures had made outdoor and industrial labour particularly hazardous.
Referring to a worker employed at a furnace, he said the man continued working in intense heat because he feared his children would go hungry if he stopped earning.
Dr Musadik Malik questioned the conventional economic approach to measuring climate losses through GDP and financial figures, arguing that the consequences should also be assessed through deaths, displacement, disability, disrupted education, infant and maternal mortality, and the destruction of family livelihoods.
He cited figures of around 6,000 deaths, 20,000 injured or disabled people and 30 to 40 million displaced persons over five major flood events, underlining the scale of the human cost of climate-related disasters.
The minister then linked these vulnerabilities to another emerging challenge: technological disruption.
He said advances in robotics and automation were accelerating industrial transformation, with potentially serious consequences for workers possessing low or mixed skill sets.
The rapid expansion of artificial intelligence could also disrupt the livelihoods of freelancers, he said, adding that workers would have to acquire new skills at an increasingly rapid pace to remain relevant in a changing employment market.
Dr Musadik Malik said the combined effects of climate disasters, technological change, economic policies and geopolitical tensions were creating a complex global crisis that could not be addressed through isolated interventions.
He pointed to the weakening of the rules-based international order and the growing reliance on unilateralism, bilateral arrangements and power-based trade settlements as factors adding to global economic uncertainty.
He also questioned the disparity in borrowing costs between wealthy and developing countries, describing the unequal treatment of nations in international financial markets as a major concern for countries such as Pakistan.
On the domestic front, the minister cited the expansion of rooftop solar installations as an example of how public initiative could contribute to addressing structural economic challenges.
He said the adoption of solar energy by households had helped reduce demand for imported liquefied natural gas and conventional energy, demonstrating the potential of alternative energy solutions.
Emphasising the role of young people in economic transformation, Dr Musadik Malik identified solar energy, wind corridors and water resources as important opportunities for Pakistan.
He said improving agricultural productivity through modern seeds and technology, expanding exports and strengthening research and innovation were essential for sustainable economic growth.
Universities, he added, could play a critical role in developing solutions through research, innovation and collaboration with the government and the wider public.
The minister said Pakistan’s economic challenges required a collective response involving the government, academia and citizens, urging students to examine interconnected problems patiently and critically rather than seek simplistic solutions.
