The Impact of Climate Change on Food Security in Pakistan: Challenges and Adaptive Opportunities

Abstract

Climate Change (CC) is taken as most crucial issue across the globe. It has been influencing each and every sphere of life, to which Pakistan is not an exception. Pakistan is suffering from Climate change at a very large scale and is the fifth most vulnerable nation due to high number of glaciers and mountain ranges. Floods of 2022 and 2025 are example of alarming climate catastrophe. Pakistan is not just facing the Climate change in form of floods but severe heat waves and droughts are also the changing weather patterns. Climate change essentially means the slow and irreversible change in the weather conditions, precipitation patterns, melting of ice caps, and other such natural phenomena. This shift is creating increasing sea levels, irregular bouts of flood and drought resulting in national and global calamities. Due to the alteration of climatic conditions, most of the urgent issues are arising out of which one is food insecurity. With increased temperatures, rainfall patterns become unpredictable, and climatic events intensify, the fragile equilibrium of Pakistan's agricultural sector gets destabilized, and its capacity to provide a stable and secure food supply to the people is greatly challenged. Pakistan's path to achieving food security is tainted with challenges emanating from natural and man-made sources. The agricultural sector, which is the pillar of the nation's economy, is threatened by vulnerabilities such as water shortage and ageing practices in agriculture to the effects of Climate Change. These and a burgeoning population and economic inequalities lead to a scenario where a large percentage of the population lacks access to a sufficient and nourishing diet.