Pakistan must shift its focus from simply storing water to regulating it year-round, Climate Minister Musadiq Malik said on Tuesday, as federal ministers outlined the government's monsoon preparedness strategy and warned that better water management would be critical to protecting food security and reducing the impact of climate-related disasters. The briefing came as Pakistan continued to battle a deadly monsoon season, with the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) reporting that at least 107 people had died and 297 others had been injured since the rains began on June 26. The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has forecast another strong monsoon spell from July 29, warning of heavy rain, urban flooding and flash floods in parts of Islamabad, Punjab, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B).
Speaking at the NDMA headquarters alongside other ministers, Malik said the government had moved away from a one-size-fits-all disaster response, adopting a strategy tailored to the different risks faced by various parts of the country. It has been further segmented," he said, explaining that dedicated plans were being developed with the provinces for cities vulnerable to extreme heat, alongside separate strategies for the northern regions, agricultural plains and rural areas to protect food security and strengthen agricultural productivity. Climate Change Minister Musadik Malik says Pakistan is among the world's 10 most climate-vulnerable countries, with more than 6,000 lives lost to climate-related disasters.
He says Pakistan has presented its case to the international community.#ClimateChange #Pakistan… pic.twitter.com/rIXMucmq2b — Pakistan TV (@PakTVGlobal) July 28, 2026 The minister argued that Pakistan's biggest challenge was not simply storing more water but ensuring it was available when farmers needed it. "If you allowed the equivalent of ten Mangla dams' worth of water to flow away during the last floods and did not retain it for the time when you actually needed it, what wisdom was there in that?" he asked. "We do not just have to collect water.
We have to regulate water." He said dams should be viewed as instruments for regulating water supplies rather than merely storing them, warning that without sufficient water during the Rabi and Kharif seasons, food security would inevi…
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