The federal government has allocated Rs. 1.6 billion to the Pakistan Meteorological Department in the Annual Plan 2026-27, directing funds toward a series of projects aimed at improving weather forecasting, building early warning infrastructure, and strengthening the country’s preparedness for the climate-related disasters that have caused increasing economic and human losses over the past decade and a half.
The allocation includes Rs. 344 million for a proposed National Centre for Rainfall Enhancement, designed to support water security, climate adaptation, and agricultural productivity in a country where water stress and irregular rainfall patterns are becoming more acute. Weather surveillance radar projects in Multan and Sukkur have been earmarked Rs. 195 million and Rs. 5 million respectively, extending real-time weather monitoring capacity to two major urban centres in the rain-shadow regions of central and southern Pakistan. The single largest component of the allocation, Rs. 1 billion, has been directed toward the modernisation of Hydromet Services in Pakistan, a project aimed at upgrading the country’s hydrometeorological infrastructure, improving forecasting accuracy, and strengthening the climate data systems that underpin both early warning communications and longer-term adaptation planning.
The Ministry of Climate Change and Environmental Coordination has been allocated Rs. 2.48 billion for fiscal year 2026-27, with the bulk directed at forestry, biodiversity conservation, afforestation, and ecosystem restoration. Additional initiatives include the Pakistan Climate Innovation and Green Growth Initiative, which will equip young people with green skills and support entrepreneurship through a Green Innovation Fund, and a National Forest and Tree Cover Assessment using remote sensing and machine learning technologies. The government also plans to advance climate-smart agriculture, efficient water management, disaster risk reduction, green industrialisation, and circular economy frameworks as part of a broader sustainability agenda.
The allocations arrive against a backdrop of escalating climate risk. The Annual Plan cited major floods in 2010, 2011, 2014, 2022, and 2025 as having caused extensive human and economic losses, with a World Bank estimate placing average annual losses from floods and earthquakes at around $2 billion. Those losses are projected to rise to $250 billion by 2030 and $1.2 trillion by 2050, with damage in priority sectors potentially reaching 30 percent of GDP in a peak disaster year. Despite this, the Senate Standing Committee on Climate Change and Environmental Coordination has expressed concern that climate-related budget allocations have been reduced compared to the outgoing fiscal year, with mitigation funds cut from Rs. 603 billion to Rs. 124 billion and adaptation funding reduced from Rs. 85 billion to Rs. 70 billion, drawing a sharp public warning from committee chairperson Senator Sherry Rehman that such reductions are troubling at a time of increasing climate vulnerability.
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