They say only bad news from Balochistan makes the headlines: Pakistan’s largest and most impoverished province mired in a decades-long insurgency. The local newspapers are flooded with the news of people being killed in bomb blasts, target killings and the loss of lives in incidents of terrorism. However, amid this backdrop of turmoil, a problem that is just as terrible is subtly developing: climate change. Its wide-reaching consequences are changing the lives of women and children, particularly in the underprivileged parts of Balochistan.
Thousands of children in South Asia, particularly Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, India and Afghanistan are at the risk of climate-related disasters, as per the UNICEF 2021 Children’s Climate Risk Index. The report reiterates that children in these countries have vigorously been exposed to devastating air pollution and aggressive heatwaves, with 6 million children confronting implacable floods that lashed across these countries in July 2024.
On 11 and 22 November, 2024, over 20 youths urged the world leaders to come up with plans to mitigate the impacts of climate change on children at the 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 29) held in Baku, Azerbaijan. Among those 20 resolute children was the 14-year-old Zunaira Qayyum Baloch, representing the 241.5 million people of Pakistan.
Dressed in her traditional Balochi attire, with a radiant smile in her face and resolute in her commitment, Zunaira Qayyum Baloch startled everyone. Hailing from the far-flung district of Hub in Balochistan, Ms Baloch went to represent the children of a country whose carbon footprint is next to zero, yet suffering some of the worst climate-related disasters. Her message to world leaders was clear: step up and combat climate-induced inequalities, particularly those affecting women and children.
“After my father passed away, my mother became the sole breadwinner. She helped us get an education and met all our requirements,” Zunaira explains. “During the catastrophic rains of 2022, an incident changed my perspective on climate change. Rain water had accumulated in the roof of our home and streets were flooded with water. The destruction was so overwhelming, and I realised that such events were no longer rare but enhancing constantly.”
During the COP29, she expressed her concerns with the experts how Pakistan, particularly Balochistan, has been detrimentally affected by climate disasters like frequent floods, heatwaves, hurricanes and droughts. Lamenting that climate change was a child-rights crisis, she told the world how the changes in the climate had jeopardized the lives of millions of women and children throughout the world.
In June 2007, when the Cyclone Yemyin hit the coast of Balochistan, it wrought unprecedented damage to the province, particularly Turbat, Pasni and Ormara and rendered 50,000 homeless within 24 hours, including children. According to reports 800,000 became affected and 24 went missing.
The 2022 floods had a devastating impact across Pakistan, with Balochistan being one of the hardest-hit. With 528 children dying nationwide, 336 people died in Balochistan, including children.
Tragedy struck again in 2024 when torrential rains engulfed 32 districts of Balochistan, particularly the port city of Gwadar and Kech district. The Provincial Disaster Management Authority put the death toll of children dying due to the flood at 55 out of the total of 170, with 16 others injured.
The decades-long running insurgency in Balochistan stems from human rights violations, inequality and government negligence. “Climate-related catastrophes further destabilise the region’s development. For instance, there was a surge in the number of protests during the 2022 floods in Gwadar and Turbat, reflecting the deep frustration and despair of the people”
These alarming statistics highlight how urgently appropriate plans and proper strategies for disaster preparedness and loss mitigation in Balochistan must be developed. While extreme weather events such as floods become more common, the need for climate change has never been greater.
Regions in Balochistan, such as, Naseerabad, Jaffarabad, Sohbatpur, Nokundi, Sibi and Turbat have seen severe heatwaves in the past few decades. On May, 2017, the Mercury rose to a record breaking of 53.5C in Turbat, making the district the hottest place of the year after Mitribah, Kuwait.
Dr. Sammi Parvaz, a gynecologist at Turbat’s teaching hospital, says rising temperatures contribute to higher dropout rates among schoolgirls and affect their menstrual cycles.
“According to NIH research, menstruation is severely impacted in climate-vulnerable countries like Pakistan,” she explains. “Girls in extreme heat, like in Turbat and Karachi, experience more intense, painful cramps.”
Overcoming the stigma around periods is a daunting task, particularly in small towns in Balochistan where cultural norms and practices have a strong hold on communities. During floods thousands of girl children struggle to manage their periods amidst the chaos of the disaster and remain without period products. For instance, after the 2022 floods, 650,000 pregnant women and girl children in Pakistan were without essential maternal care, with a significant proporti, on from Balochistan.
Madat Balochistan, a non-profit organisation, has supported over 31,000 people across 34 districts in Sindh and Balochistan. With its major work concentrated in and around Quetta, Dera Bugti, Jaffarabad, Jhal Magsi, Sohbatpur, and Khuzdar, it is a proudly women-led organization and fundamentally believes in prioritizing women and young girls in their work.
“Vulnerability is a multi-dimensional concept and in a country like Pakistan where most of the women and girls are pushed to the margins of society in every way possible,” Maryam Jamali tells.
“Take the 2022 floods, for example. the most recent catastrophes etched in our memories. Women and girls were responsible for most of the labour when it came to evacuating to safer places. As soon as they did, their needs when it came to menstruation or pregnancy care were completely ignored by aid agencies as they sent out packages or set up medical camps. Most of our work at Madat was compensating for things like this. We worked with midwives to ensure that women who could not stand in lines for ration received it regardless, or women who did not want to interact with male doctors didn’t have to. In our housing projects, we prioritize women especially those who don’t have a patriarch in the household because that severely limits their access to resources for rehabilitation.”
In patriarchal societies women and girl children are the primary caregivers of the family and they are the sole persons to grow crop, do house chores, fetch firewood and water.
These household responsibilities create an educational gap and girl children are taken out of schools in Balochistan during floods. With Pakistan’s lowest female literacy rate at just 27 per cent , the International Rescue Committee (IRC) reported that the province of Sindh and Balochistan have seen greater educational disruptions due to heatwaves and floods, with the 2022 flood causing more educational institutions closure than the combined two-year covid-19 pandemic.
With half of its child population out of school, 47 percent, extreme heatwaves and recurrent flooding in Balochistan have further compounded this gap. For instance, the 2022 flood damaged or destroyed 7,439 schools in the province, affecting the education of over 386,600 students and 17,660 teachers and staff members. Reports also mention that most of the government school were used as flood shelters in the province. In the 2024 floods, 464 schools were again damaged.
Madat Balochistan has also been on the forefront in the reduction of child marriages during monsoons in Balochistan,” It’s not intuitive to think of girls’ education or loan relief or housing provision as measures to build climate change resilience, but in our contexts these are the very things that drive vulnerability to climate change,” says Ms Jamali. “We have been working on supporting farmers with loan relief so that young girls aren’t married off to compensate for the financial burden of loans after a lost harvest. We are also working on initiatives for sustainable livelihoods for women as well as ensuring that young girls in all the communities we work in have access to education despite geographic or financial limitations.”
Maryam Jamali thinks that gender inequality is one of the biggest aspects which makes it absolutely necessary for a region like Balochistan, where physical vulnerability and socio-economic vulnerability is high, to have young girls at the decision-making table.
“Activists like Zunaira can ensure that when we come up with solutions for climate change, we contextualize them through a gender lens and make sure that this does not become another instance of taking away women’s agency, but becomes an opportunity to involve them in climate change policy decision-making.” Ms Jamali discloses. “It is rewarding to see the girls we support do great things. One of our girls from Musakhel is studying at Cadet College Quetta, the first in her family to be able to pursue education beyond 8th grade.”
“Extreme weather can fuel conflict and be a threat multiplier,” Says Advocate Siraj Gul, a lawyer at the Balochistan High Court, Quetta.
Hailing from the Makran division , he stresses that the decades-long running insurgency in Balochistan stems from human rights violations, inequality and government negligence. “ Climate-related catastrophes further destabilise the region’s development. For instance, there was a surge in the number of protests during the 2022 floods in Gwadar and Turbat, reflecting the deep frustration and despair of the people.”
According to Mr Gul if children like Zunaira are given a platform to speak and work for Balochistan, they are not merely advocating for the environment, they are working for a more peaceful and tranquil region.
