From regional tensions to global inaction, Malik goes back to the human cost of climate change, particularly for the most vulnerable of Pakistan.
In suffocating karachi, while tensions with India Herven on the swing of the waters of the Indo, Musadik Masood Malik baby an American. Recently appointed as the Federal Minister of Climate Change and Environmental Coordination of Pakistan, Malik left his previous position that supervises the Ministry of Water Resources and Petroleum to assume what he describes as an urgent and discouraging role. In one of his first interviews since the reorganization of March 2025, he speaks exclusively to Dialogue Earth.
Malik leans forward to enumerate what he sees how the most pressing environmental threats of Pakistan: “air pollution and its economic cost in the people of Pakistan. Pollution and water access. And solid waste [management]either methane or carbon dioxide. These are the three main challenges we face, ”he says.
But it is the melciars of Pakistan who worry the most. Before arriving in Karachi, one of the first official visits of Senator Malik went to Gilgit-Baltistan, the most northern region of Pakistan and the home of some of the largest glacial reserves in the world outside the polar areas. He was there to see the initiatives that take place under a United Nations project that aims to reduce the risk of flooding of glacial lake (Glof). The numbers, he says, speak for themselves: Pakistan is home to more than 13,000 glaciers, placing it on the first line of a world of heating.
“As the population has increased, communities no longer live where their ancestors used to live. What happens if they are on the way to these dangers?” He says.
About 2,000 km from Gilgit-Baltistan, the minister faces a completely different set of climatic challenges in Karachi, the city and the largest financial power of Pakistan. The main one is joining the political gaps between the Federation and the provinces, as well as navigating competitive interprovincial interests.
A ‘disaster theater’?
Despite the diplomatic pressure of India to block financial assistance, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved this month a new loan for Pakistan. In a statement, the IMF confirmed that it had accepted the request of the Pakistani government of an agreement under the resilience and sustainability center (RSF), unlocking USD 1.4 billion to help the country respond to climate -related challenges.
While financing represents a significant impulse, Malik remains skeptical. “We have not yet exceeded much of what happened during the floods of 2022. Commitments are made and they are not fulfilled,” he says. “Promises were made for the loss and damage fund, but was the money on that bottom? Look at the amount of commitments and then look at the reduction, and the real financing that has arisen.”
Ask the entire global response mechanism: “Is it just the disaster theater, where we all meet and speak English and make great speeches?”
Recently, Pakistan urged the relevant parts to accelerate the disbursements of the Loss and Damage Fund, since it continues to support the worst part of the extreme climatic events and the climatic impacts of slow start. “I don’t feel cynical,” says Malik. “What I am doing right now is Lobby. And not only to press for Pakistan, although that is my first duty and the most important responsibility. But I am pressing for the vulnerable; I am pressing for climate justice.”
The minister has expressed in recent international forums, gathering for climatic justice and the rights of developing countries, even at the gin climate summit, calling what he sees as inequalities in the architecture of global climatic finance. Criticize the disproportionate benefits that go to a handful of countries. “What about the rest of the world?” Add. “What about Pakistan?”
Water tensions
Nationally, one of the most heated environmental debates involves the controversial six channel project, in the Cholistan desert in southern Punjab. Water is a deeply political problem in Pakistan, where the provinces have long played their part of the Indo River system, which supports the country’s dependent economy. In this context, the project of the six channels, seen by some as a plan that would potentially reduce the flow of water to the province of Sindh downstream, has triggered a fierce opposition. Sindh has expressed reduced flow fears and denounced a lack of consultation.
Malik defends the idea as potentially beneficial, but they emphasize that trust and transparency between the provinces are key. “The possible solution to protect water rights for each province is to guarantee a water telemetry system [to monitor usage] In each interdimensional union so that each drop of water that flows is explained, “he says. Once that system is in place, he adds, the provinces may be sure that they are receiving their fair part of water” through science and technology and not through human intervention. “
However, public protests and increasing interprovincial tensions have led the authorities to stop the project until they reach a consensus. “We do not want to do anything without the consent of the provinces, and the provinces must be consulted,” he says.
Malik reiterates his commitment to transparency and responsibility in the Water Government in the future. “There will be no unilateralism,” he says, and adds that a robust telemetry system will guarantee real -time water monitoring and equitable distribution.
The Federal Minister also emphasizes the importance of water productivity, an idea that believes that it does not receive enough attention in Pakistan. “A 3 percent improvement in the productivity of water use for agriculture produces the same yield as 3 million acres-pies of flood irrigation,” he says. In other words: more harvest per drop. The approach, he argues, should change the expanding irrigation infrastructure to the use of existing water more efficiently.
When asked about the political inflection point that surrounds the construction of dams in Pakistan, Malik responds with a smile and a word game: “I will not name the dam because I would be convicted if I did.”
Despite a recently announced fire after renewed tensions and conflicts between India and Pakistan, the future of the Indo Water Treaty remains precarious. After the attack of the pahalgama in Kashmiro administered by India, India announced a unilateral suspension of the Indo Water Treaty, a movement that Pakistan has rebuked strongly. “If there is a disagreement, the first step is the bilateral discussion among the indoor commissioners. If that does not work, there are secondary mechanisms: neutral technical experts can be consulted,” he says. “The last resort is the Arbitration Court. And this has been operating in this treaty. And if this treaty has no value, then no treaty in the world has value.”
Malik states that India has violated the treaty several times. “It is one of the binding conditions of the treaty that commissioners must comply periodically. India has already violated this. They do not share enough information or data that help determine the flow of water in this bilateral system,” he says. He adds that the calls of India to renegotiate the terms of the treaty are prior to the attack in Pahalgam. “This poses suspicions: was Pahalgam used as an excuse to violate the treaty?” He asks.
From regional tensions to global inaction, Malik goes back to the human cost of climate change, particularly for the most vulnerable of Pakistan. “We lose [access to] schools and health centers. Our girls and our women are disproportionately affected by these devastations, ”he says.
Then, at a quieter moment, the minister reflects on a more innocent past. “When he grew up, we caught fireflies in our garden, we put them in bottles and take them to the dark rooms, but then we went out to the garden and let them let go, so they do not die. Do we persecute the butterflies at night. Do not expect an answer.
For Malik, aesthetic and cultural loss, triggered by a world of heating, is as deep as physical damage. The minister regrets the loss of poetry and popular songs that once paid tribute to the natural world of Pakistan. “The floods and disasters induced by the climate not only cause material losses,” he says. “They also steal us from our culture.”
This article was originally published by Dialogue Earth and has been republished with permission.
Image of heading: local sheep shepherds walk along the Shandur pass in northern Pakistan. – Jackie Ellis/Alamy
