ISLAMABAD, Nov 04 (APP/DNA): Federal Minister for Climate Change and Environmental Coordination, Senator Dr Musadik Malik, on Tuesday warned that the world is moving towards a dangerous new order marked by the “weaponisation of water” and growing injustice in global climate politics.
Speaking at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute’s (SDPI) 28th Sustainable Development Conference at the Allama Iqbal Open University in Islamabad, Dr Malik said the collapse of multilateral cooperation was pushing the world into an era of conflict and competition.
“Multilateralism is dying,” he told delegates. “It’s landing its way to bilateralism, and now mostly to unilateralism. The new politics of the world is not moving towards cooperation. You are going to see more wars, more conflict, and more weaponisation.”
The minister warned that lower riparian countries — those located downstream on shared rivers — faced growing risks as powerful upstream nations sought control over water flows.
“Water is becoming the next weapon,” he said. “Once the precedent is set for upper riparian countries to control water, what will come next — the weaponisation of wind?”
Dr Malik also criticised what he described as hypocrisy in global climate finance, accusing major polluters of benefiting the most from green funding.
He said that 40% of the world’s carbon emissions were produced by just two countries, while ten nations accounted for 75% — yet the same ten received around 85% of global green financing.
“Countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh emit less than one percent of global emissions,” he said. “The countries that consume the environment don’t pay the price.
They should be charged for the oxygen they consume and the carbon dioxide and methane they emit. This is not justice — it’s the industrial policy of big carbon emitters.”
Recalling Pakistan’s 2022 floods, which killed up to 2,000 people and displaced more than eight million, Dr Malik said the disaster underscored the human cost of climate change. Economic losses were estimated between $32bn and $40bn — about 15–18% of the country’s GDP.
He added that Pakistan ranked 167th out of 180 nations in progress towards the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, saying the country must “find sustainability in an era of global disorder.”
“This conference is not about the past — it’s about the future,” he said. “We must speak the truth and stand up for climate justice.”
The SDPI’s annual Sustainable Development Conference brings together international experts, academics and policymakers to discuss the challenges of achieving sustainable growth amid climate and geopolitical instability.
