APP
Federal Minister for Climate Change Dr. Musadik Malik has called for global cooperation to develop practical climate solutions, proposing a virtual green university, a dedicated fund for green start-ups and shared access to publicly funded information technology to strengthen climate resilience. Addressing the Arctic Circle Assembly 2026 in Iceland, the minister highlighted the devastating impact of glacial melting and climate-related disasters on vulnerable communities, particularly in Pakistan’s northern mountain regions, and urged the international community to move beyond commemorating environmental losses towards developing practical solutions.
Recalling the death of a glacier in Iceland in 2019, which was commemorated with a plaque, he said the final line of the inscription – “Only you know if we did it” – raised questions about collective responsibility for environmental destruction. “In my mountains, glaciers don’t die quietly,” he said, describing how falling boulders and torrents of water could devastate valleys and leave communities facing loss and destruction.
The minister recounted the experience of Zara, a resident of Hassanabad in Hunza, whose community had lived in the area for around 400 years or more. He said the Shisper Glacier, which supported local livelihoods, farming, water supplies and food security, broke after temperatures rose and a lake formed behind it in May 2022.
Zara’s husband was working in the fields when the glacier broke. As the ground trembled and boulders came down, he rushed home and helped his wife and children escape, saving their lives, the minister said.
However, their house, livestock and essential community facilities, including schools and clinics, were lost, leaving the family and other residents facing renewed poverty. Dr. Musadik Malik said it had taken generations for such families to emerge from poverty, while a single glacial disaster could reverse that progress. He said around 1,000 households in the affected areas of Nagar and Hunza’s Hassanabad valley were wiped away within a month. Recalling his visit to the affected area, he said a young girl had taken him to the rubble of her house and told him that her child was buried somewhere beneath it.
Quoting Zara’s account of the psychological impact on children, he said: “My children used to look at these mountains with wonder. Now they look at this mountain with fear.” Drawing a comparison with Nepal, the minister referred to a glacial disaster there in August, saying the water level rose by nine metres, or 27 feet, within half an hour, sweeping away bridges, roads, hospitals and other infrastructure.