Nestled deep in the upper reaches of Chitral, with the imposing peak of Tirich Mir in the Karakoram range gazing down at the town of Booni (aka Buni), is a small academy that is bringing social and climate change awareness to youngsters. The fragile ecology of the region has been bearing the brunt of climate change. It has been repeatedly hit by glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs), leading to loss of life, property and livelihoods. The Booni Academy engages with young people, sensitising them to further dangers and teaching them how to assess the needs of – and develop the right responses with – their respective communities.

Way down south, in the hustle and bustle of Pakistan’s largest city, Karachi, Emaan Danish, as an eight-year-old home-schooled girl, polished her observational skills during her trips upcountry. Disturbed by the trash and the uncaring attitude that goes with it, she took it upon herself (encouraged by her parents) to create a ‘mascot’ in the form of a doll made with recycled materials to raise awareness about the impact of climate change. Now, as a confident 14-year-old, she has become a strident voice in the fraternity of children, drawing their attention to the importance of environmental stewardship, even participating in COP 28 at the COP Children Pavilion.

Danish and many other individuals, organisations and institutions, are playing their part in raising awareness about the impact of climate change. Developing appropriate responses to the unpredictable is a huge task and requires a 360-degree vision and approach.

Yes, tackling climate change is largely the government’s responsibility – as one would quickly like to point out. In fact, many also think that since Pakistan is hardly responsible for the emissions causing climate change, it does not bear any responsibility to be part of the action to stem the tide. Yet, all countries – even those like Pakistan with minuscule emissions – need to be on board, talking about action and achieving a broader societal acceptance of climate action.

Hence, the plethora of action from different segments of society. We see innovation in the space of agri-input reforms, experimentation with crops in soils that have degraded due to a variety of factors, the introduction of crops in areas where there were none earlier, and a push for solutions in terms of wastewater treatment and eco-friendly construction techniques. In fact, we are now seeing the emergence of ‘ecopreneurs’, as they have come to be known, engaged in piloting scalable, eco-friendly solutions, while at the same time approaching academics and investors to take their ideas forward.

Industry too is pitching in by cleaning up its act. There is a greater understanding of the concept of embedding sustainability through the circularity of processes, even if driven by the need to adhere to compliance for business sustainability rather than environmental sensitisation (it works just as well both ways), and environment, social and governance (ESG) investing is also moving beyond being mere jargon.

As far as government action is concerned, it may seem inadequate, but the needle is moving. Policies and plans are in place. What is required is an acceleration in the action, and here the biggest stumbling block is the inadequacy of finance. The needs assessment has come up with a figure that goes into trillions of dollars and what is available falls woefully short. However, despite this lack of funds, hydro and solar plants are being set up, electric vehicles encouraged, early warning networks established and an upgrading of disaster management capacity. There is also a plan to run public buses on bio-methane taken from animal waste which until now had been flowing into the sea. This is where innovation comes in. A young student recently came up with a bio fertiliser solution called bhan or straw (agricultural residue). A community in the Salt Range has committed to stop chopping wood from the forests for fuel and move to biogas from their own animals.

Along with this, those in the business of education, advocacy and communications are investing in developing curricula, graphic-based material and audio-visual tools to cater to the diverse communities that make up the 256 million people living in Pakistan. Today, we have proof of concepts of floating wetlands to clean up harbours and creeks, rafts on which agriculture can be carried out in flooded areas, the upcycling of textile and plastic waste, the planting of urban and other forests, the promotion of kitchen gardening, fish, shrimp and crab farming, and growing organic produce.

Wildlife conservation is also taking place, be it turtles, vultures, pangolins, elephants, monkeys and bears. Loss of habitat, and protecting what is left from developers has now moved out from core environment circles to becoming a concern of the broader civil society, including the media and legal fraternity.

Solution seekers are also taking a step back to pay more attention to traditional, indigenous solutions. This has extended to architecture, town planning and construction that can respond to the rising heat index and resist the worst effects of eventualities such as floods and storms. To this end, alliances are being forged between different segments of society in order to collaborate in a search for solutions. All these initiatives embody hope for a response to climate change. Some are at ground zero such as ideation; some have leveraged help from developmental agencies, foundations, donors and angel investors to create their proof of concept – and we need more such initiatives.

As climate change threatens to upend life as we know it, there are opportunities within that challenge. Many jobs will become redundant, but new, greener opportunities beckon and the first movers will definitely be at an advantage. Big-ticket items at the government level, such as the Living Indus and Recharge Pakistan initiatives, clean urban transportation schemes and transition towards renewables, are at the moment hogging the attention. However, there need to be more strategic and aggressive matches between innovative doable ideas that while providing solutions, avoid top down cookie-cutter approaches. The road to climate solutions is a long and bumpy one, mostly because of the lack of finance, but this should not stop us from commencing the journey.

Afia Salam is a journalist, climate change advocate and member of the National Climate Change Council.