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Pakistan seeks Saudi support for desert reclamation, afforestation projects amid climate worries

Pakistan seeks Saudi support for desert reclamation, afforestation projects amid climate worries
Pakistan’s Climate Change Minister Musadik Malik during an interview with Arab News in Islamabad, Pakistan, on July 10, 2025. (AN Photo)
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Pakistan seeks Saudi support for desert reclamation, afforestation projects amid climate worries

Pakistan seeks Saudi support for desert reclamation, afforestation projects amid climate worries
  • Pakistan, ֱ signed an agreement in 2022 to cooperate in nine environmental areas, including desertification and biodiversity
  • Climate Change Minister Musadik Malik says he will soon visit the Kingdom to discuss climate collaboration between the two countries

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Climate Change Minister Musadik Malik has said that his ministry is seeking ֱ’s support for comprehensive climate projects that include desert reclamation, afforestation and carbon offset initiatives, amid Islamabad’s efforts to deal with climate-related challenges.

Pakistan has 4.2 million hectares of forest and planted trees, which equates to 4.8 percent of its total land area, according to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization. The country is currently focusing on combating desertification through afforestation, water management and sustainable agricultural practices.

ֱ, on the other hand, is playing a leading role in global climate action and launched in 2021 the Middle East Green Initiative (MGI) that aims to mitigate climate change impacts by raising $10.4 billion for clean energy, planting 50 billion trees and restoring degraded lands spanning 200 million hectares in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

In February 2022, the two brotherly countries signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to cooperate in nine environmental areas, including pollution control, nature protection, forestry, biodiversity, desertification, hazardous waste management, marine conservation, air quality monitoring and environmental training exchanges.

“I am going to work directly with them [ֱ] on climate initiatives, on claiming deserts, on building forests, and on [carbon] offsetting,” Malik told Arab News in an interview on Thursday.

“I just need a little bit more time to put a package together.”

He said ֱ had always extended its unwavering support to Pakistan and he would soon visit the Kingdom to discuss climate collaboration between the two nations.

“It’s on my table right now to put together those projects with carbon offsets, or whatever those initiatives are, and take them there, which are viable, real, doable and meaningful,” Malik said.

Pakistan, home to over 240 million people, is consistently ranked among the countries most vulnerable to climate change and has seen erratic changes in its weather patterns, which have led to frequent heatwaves, untimely rains, floods, storms, cyclones and droughts in recent years.

Malik said his ministry was working on green mobility and recycling initiatives in partnership with Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, particularly the United Arab Emirates (UAE), to drive climate action to benefit the poor.

“They have sent me a letter about starting a movement on behalf of the entire world south… moving the recycling kind of revolution in a manner which serves the poor people of Pakistan,” he said.

In 2022, deadly floods submerged a third of Pakistan, claimed more than 1,700 lives and affected 33 million people, causing more than $30 billion in economic losses. 

So far this monsoon season, which began in late June, at least 87 people have been killed and 149 others injured in rain-related incidents across Pakistan, with the death toll expected to rise further as heavy rains continue to batter the South Asian nation.

But Malik believed the country was unlikely to face flood-like conditions similar to 2022 as the climate patterns showed a “balancing effect” between glacier melt and rainfall.

“Where the melting is increasing, the rainfalls are projected to decrease,” he said. “The signs, the projections that we have seen, the numbers that we have seen, basically show that hopefully we would have a good, decent, and manageable year.”

Speaking of Pakistan’s early warning systems, the minister acknowledged “serious gaps” in the mechanisms despite previous investments, saying efforts were underway to fix deficiencies that hinder timely disaster alerts.

“The early warning systems, after all of the investments that we’ve done… they are not able to give us warning in a timely manner… those systems are not working,” he said.

Asked about international climate funding to Pakistan post-2022 floods, Malik said the funding was declining due to Pakistan’s “limited absorptive capacity and lack of impactful projects.”

“We did not have a lot of absorptive power and even when funding was available, we did not come up with enough projects,” he said, adding that the country could only draw around $50-$70 million despite $500 million commitments.

He said his ministry had engaged youngsters from environmental sciences background to develop ideas, projects and startups to help attract international funding.

“We are going to come up with lowest cost, highest impact projects, and we are going to go after them,” Malik added.


Pakistan tenders to buy 300,000 to 500,000 metric tons of sugar

Pakistan tenders to buy 300,000 to 500,000 metric tons of sugar
Updated 11 July 2025

Pakistan tenders to buy 300,000 to 500,000 metric tons of sugar

Pakistan tenders to buy 300,000 to 500,000 metric tons of sugar
  • The deadline for the submission of price offers is July 18
  • Shipment sought in series of consignments loading in August

HAMBURG: Pakistan’s state agency, the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP), has issued an international tender to purchase and import 300,000 to 500,000 metric tons of white refined sugar, European traders said on Friday.

The deadline for submission of price offers is July 18.

On July 8, Pakistan’s government had approved plans to import 500,000 tons of sugar to help maintain price stability.

Market analysts said that retail sugar prices in the country have risen sharply since January.

The sugar is sought from worldwide origins, packed in bags with a minimum offer of 25,000 tons permitted.

The TCP reserves the right to purchase more or less than the tender volumes, traders said.

Shipment is sought in a series of consignments loading in August. The entire volume purchased must arrive in Pakistan by September 30.


Pakistan, EU sign €20 million grant deal to improve business environment, governance

Pakistan, EU sign €20 million grant deal to improve business environment, governance
Updated 11 July 2025

Pakistan, EU sign €20 million grant deal to improve business environment, governance

Pakistan, EU sign €20 million grant deal to improve business environment, governance
  • The development comes as Pakistan takes policy measures to increase lending portfolio of small, medium enterprises
  • The initiative will strengthen these enterprises, green transition of export-oriented firms and facilitate green investments

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and the European Union have signed a €20 million grant agreement to launch the “Better Governance and Business Environment” initiative in the South Asian country, Pakistani state media reported on Thursday.

The agreement, signed by EU Ambassador to Pakistan Dr. Riina Kionka and Secretary Economic Affairs Division Dr. Kazim Niaz, aims to enhance the competitiveness of Pakistan’s private sector, particularly small and medium enterprises (SMEs), including those led by or benefiting women.

Pakistan’s government has increasingly spoken about achieving sustainable economic growth and moving the country away from his usual “boom and bust” cycle through financial reforms, signing trade, business and grant deals with regional allies worth billions of dollars and enhancing its exports.

“The program will strengthen SME-related legislation, support the green transition of export-oriented firms, facilitate targeted green investments, and promote public-private dialogue,” the Radio Pakistan broadcaster reported.

The development comes as Pakistan takes policy measures to increase lending portfolio of SMEs to enhance their contributions to employment, exports and the national GDP.

These enterprises account for approximately 40 percent of the country’s GDP, 25 percent of exports and nearly 78 percent of non-agricultural employment, according to the Pakistani finance ministry.

But despite their contributions, their access to formal finance remains “disproportionately low,” with a small percentage of private-sector lending currently directed toward them

“This expansion is expected to enhance the contribution of SMEs to GDP, exports, employment, youth and women’s digital empowerment, and overall financial inclusion, laying the foundation for sustained and inclusive economic growth,” the finance ministry said this month.

“Deregulation efforts, such as reducing reliance on NOCs and increasing e-inspections, are also being introduced to reduce compliance burdens for SMEs.”

Pakistan will also use a $1.4 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund’s climate resilience fund to expand fiscal space, embed climate planning into public investment decisions and unlock private-sector capital for green projects, the IMF said last week.


Pakistani passenger, bound for Karachi, ‘mistakenly’ flies to Jeddah

Pakistani passenger, bound for Karachi, ‘mistakenly’ flies to Jeddah
Updated 11 July 2025

Pakistani passenger, bound for Karachi, ‘mistakenly’ flies to Jeddah

Pakistani passenger, bound for Karachi, ‘mistakenly’ flies to Jeddah
  • Civil aviation regulator requested to impose a ‘heavy fine on the airline that is guilty of negligence’
  • No explanation yet on how the passenger cleared immigration at Lahore airport without a passport

KARACHI: In a bizarre turn of events, a Pakistani man, who was supposed to travel to Karachi from Lahore, boarded a wrong flight and landed in the Saudi city of Jeddah this week, the Pakistan Airports Authority (PAA) confirmed on Friday.

The passenger, Malik Shahzain Ahmed, was traveling to Karachi through a private airline, Air Sial, but instead boarded the airline’s flight to Jeddah from the Lahore airport, local media reported, citing the passenger.

Ahmed told media that immigration authorities at the Jeddah airport briefly detained and questioned him upon landing in the Kingdom without a passport and deported him to Lahore after the situation became clear.

In a statement, the PAA said higher officials had taken notice of the lapse and written letters to civil aviation regulator and the station manager.

“In the letter, the civil aviation regulator has been requested to impose a heavy fine on the airline that is guilty of negligence,” PAA spokesman Saifullah said.

The PAA statement did not offer an explanation as to how the passenger cleared immigration at the Lahore airport before boarding the Jeddah-bound flight.

In a video clip circulating online, Ahmed said he went to Lahore airport to board the Karachi-bound flight on July 8, but he “mistakenly” sat in the Jeddah-bound flight after collecting his boarding pass for the domestic flight.

“After two hours, I asked [myself], ‘This plane doesn’t seem to be landing [soon]’,” he said. “Then I got to know that I had taken boarded the wrong plane.”
 


Gunmen kidnap and kill nine bus passengers in Pakistan’s Balochistan

Gunmen kidnap and kill nine bus passengers in Pakistan’s Balochistan
Updated 11 July 2025

Gunmen kidnap and kill nine bus passengers in Pakistan’s Balochistan

Gunmen kidnap and kill nine bus passengers in Pakistan’s Balochistan
  • Armed men offboarded passengers, who hailed from the Punjab province, from two buses in the Zhob district
  • No group has claimed responsibility for the incident, but suspicion is likely to fall on Baloch separatist militants

QUETTA: Armed men killed nine bus passengers after kidnapping them in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province, officials said on Friday, in the latest attack on commuters hailing from the eastern Punjab province.

The attackers took the passengers with them after intercepting two buses on the N-70 highway in Balochistan’s Zhob district, according to a senior official of the paramilitary Levies force. Their bodies were found in the nearby mountains in the intervening night of Thursday and Friday.

No group has claimed responsibility for the latest attack on the Punjab-bound buses, but suspicion is likely to fall on Baloch separatist groups who have been involved in multiple such attacks targeting ethnic Punjabi commuters in the past.

“Armed men intercepted two Lahore-bound passenger buses at the Balochistan-Punjab national highway near Sara Dhaka area and kidnapped nine ethnic Punjabi travelers after checking their national identity cards (NICs),” Yasin Mandokhail, the Levies station house officer (SHO) in Zhob district, told Arab News.

“The bodies are being shifted to Rakhni Hospital for medico-legal procedure.”

Shahid Rind, a spokesman for the Balochistan government, said security forces immediately responded to the attack but the attackers fled under the cover of darkness.

“Security forces are conducting a thorough search operation in the area,” he said in a statement.

Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest but most impoverished province, has been the site of a long-running insurgency that has intensified in recent months, with separatist militants attacking security forces, government officials and installations and people from other provinces, particularly Punjab, who they see as “outsiders.”

The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) is the strongest of a number of insurgent groups long operating in the mineral-rich region bordering Afghanistan and Iran, who accuse the central government of stealing their resources to fund development in Punjab.

The federal government denies the allegations and says it is working for the uplift of local communities in Balochistan, where China has been building a deep-sea port as part of its Belt and Road Initiative.

Last August, nearly two dozen passengers were killed after BLA militants forcibly removed them from Punjab-bound buses in a string of coordinated attacks in Balochistan. Another seven Punjabi commuters were offboarded from buses and killed in Balochistan’s Barkhan district in February this year.

In March, the BLA separatist hijacked a train with hundreds of passengers aboard near Balochistan’s Bolan Pass, which resulted in the deaths of 23 soldiers, three railway employees and five passengers. At least 33 insurgents were also killed.

On Thursday, Pakistan Railways suspended train service from Balochistan provincial capital of Quetta to the rest of the country for a day after law enforcement agencies shared security concerns.


Climate change makes South Asia’s monsoon season more prone to floods, landslides and heavy rains

Climate change makes South Asia’s monsoon season more prone to floods, landslides and heavy rains
Updated 11 July 2025

Climate change makes South Asia’s monsoon season more prone to floods, landslides and heavy rains

Climate change makes South Asia’s monsoon season more prone to floods, landslides and heavy rains
  • Hundreds of rain-related deaths have already occurred this year in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Maldives and Nepal
  • Climate experts say high temperatures and heavy rain are contributing to melting of glaciers in the Himalayan region, causing flooding and landslides

BENGALURU: Each year from June to September, a series of heavy rains known as monsoons, sweep through the Indian subcontinent, providing relief from heat, irrigating the country’s farms and replenishing its rivers.

However, as global heat increases, the rain is becoming more erratic and intense, creating the conditions for deadly floods. Nearly 1,300 people died in India throughout 2024 due to heavy rain and floods. Hundreds of rain-related deaths have already occurred this year in the South Asian region, which includes India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Maldives and Nepal.

Climate experts say the high temperatures and heavy rain are also contributing to the melting of glaciers in the mountainous Himalayan region, causing catastrophic flooding and landslides.
 

MONSOON BECOMES MORE DANGEROUS

The South Asian region has traditionally had two monsoon seasons. One typically lasts from June to September, with rains moving southwest to northeast. The other, from roughly October to December, moves in the opposite direction.

But with more planet-warming gases in the air, the rain now only loosely follows this pattern. This is because the warmer air can hold more moisture from the Indian Ocean, and that rain then tends to get dumped all at once. It means the monsoon is punctuated with intense flooding and dry spells, rather than sustained rain throughout.

“We are witnessing a clear climatic shift in monsoon patterns across South Asia,” said Roxy Mathew Koll, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology in Pune and author of several United Nations climate reports.

Traditionally, people in India and neighboring countries excitedly awaited the monsoon rains, which would finally mean the end of summer heat. But attitudes are changing as disasters increase during the rainy seasons.

“The frequency and intensity of extreme rainfall events are increasing, often overwhelming drainage infrastructure in urban areas and triggering flash floods,” Koll said.

Higher temperatures and longer periods of drought are also making farming harder in South Asia, climate experts said.

“More than 60 percent of the people in South Asia are dependent on agriculture, and almost all of them are dependent on monsoon rainfall,” said Finu Shrestha, a climate scientist at Katmandu, Nepal-based International Center for Integrated Mountain Development.
 

MOUNTAIN REGIONS SEE MORE GLACIAL LAKES OVERFLOWING

A 2023 report by Shrestha’s organization found that glaciers are melting at unprecedented rates across the Hindu Kush and Himalayan mountain ranges. The study found that at least 200 of the more than 2,000 glacial lakes in the region are at risk of overflowing, which can cause catastrophic damage downstream. Heavy monsoon rains can exacerbate the problem.

“A lot of the mountain areas tend to have more warming than the global average, resulting in more glaciers melting,” said Miriam Jackson, glaciologist at the International Cryosphere Climate Initiative.

An October 2023 glacial lake overflow in the Indian state of Sikkim triggered flooding that killed 55 people and damaged bridges, buildings and a hydropower dam that was under construction.

Heavy rainfall and increasing heat are leading to snow and ice avalanches, rockfalls and other events that can trigger the lakes to breach or overflow, Shrestha said.

“Even small glacial lakes are now breaching and causing damage,” she said.
 

EARLY WARNING SYSTEMS CAN HELP

Installing early warning systems and building in less risky areas can help reduce damage from heavy rains, climate experts say.

“If you know a flood is coming, then people can get to higher ground and there could be a sort of standard early warning system along a river that sends out a siren,” Jackson said, adding that social media and messaging applications can help people spread warnings to those downstream.

Koll, the Pune-based scientist, said that rapid urbanization, shrinking floodplains and loss of natural drainage also exacerbate damage from heavy rains. Koll said that most government response currently comes after disasters, and there is a lack of long-term planning.

“In the future monsoon, extreme rains are projected to intensify further, in addition to sporadic water shortages. Hence, we need proactive, long-term strategies that combine science, policy, and community engagement,” he said.

Jackson said the biggest issue, however, is to try to reduce emissions of planet-heating gases because there are limits to adapting to extreme weather.

“If we continue with, you know, business as usual, and we have the same kind of emissions, then the world is going to keep on getting warmer and there will be more intense rain and floods. At some point, we could go beyond the limits of adaptation,” she said.