Indus River threatened by climate change

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi 

(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Pakistan is fifth on a list of all countries most vulnerable to climate change and rising temperatures are already affecting the Indus River, a lifeline for people across the country, mapped in a moving film Vanishing Wetlands. 

The Indus River is one of the world’s longest rivers. It flows through parts of China and India, and runs through Pakistan sustaining the livelihoods of millions of people. 

The combined effects of growing pollution, the building of dams, and the permanent melting of glaciers, which provide up to 80 percent of the river’s water during the dry season, are all having an unprecedented impact on the region’s environment, health and quality of life. 

In Vanishing Wetlands, Pakistani filmmaker Abdullah Khan tells the story of farmers dependent on the river and the age-old fishing community, the Mohanas, whose very existence on Lake Manchar is threatened. Along the way, the film profiles the stunning central Indus wetland complex which supports seasonal bird flyways and rare crocodiles and deer species.

“The drastic decrease in visiting migratory birds, the loss of 90 per cent of the hog deer population, almost complete wipe out of mugger crocodiles and threats to the Indus River wetlands is an eye-opener. Equally depressing is to witness the loss of age-old cultures and communities struggling for livelihood,” Abdullah remarked. 

Wetlands is part of Voices from the Roof of the World, a series of 10 environmental documentaries, produced by filmmakers from Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and India under a joint initiative by Aga Khan University, Aga Khan Agency for Habitat, Aga Khan Foundation and University of Central Asia. 

The series focuses on the climate crisis in the earth’s highest mountain region from the Pamirs to the Himalayan mountains. Home to 240 million people and countless rare and endangered species, these mountains are also the largest depository of ice outside the polar ice caps, providing water to a quarter of the world's population. 

“With VRW support and tutelage, these filmmakers have captured poignant personal stories of people and cultures threatened by both deluges and desiccation of their environment. They have ventured downstream to document how the melting of the Himalayan glaciers will affect 1.5 billion people living in the threatened fishing and farming communities of South and Central Asia. Others will show how deforestation, air pollution and killer heat waves will make the world’s most densely packed cities unlivable,” Andrew Tkach, Executive Producer of the series, stated. 

“There are many culprits to share the blame for the predicament humanity finds itself in, but with every target we miss to control CO2 emissions, we are squarely painting a target on our own back. It is time to show that even in a world beset by intractable conflicts and it is possible to work across borders and social strata to save our common home. People living in some of the world’s most extreme conditions are fighting this battle every day, it is time we listen and learn from them,” he stressed. 

The VRW series, which will run for at least two seasons, seeks to amplify the voices of those who have borne the greatest burden of climate change.