Ahead of COP30, UK–Pakistan premiere links coastal communities and shows that affordable, scalable climate solutions are within reach

Pakistan has permanently lost up to 2.2 million hectares (8,494 square miles) of land to sea intrusion over recent decades, erasing farmland and coastlines roughly equivalent in size to Greater London and the ten counties of South East England. These slow, permanent losses have been compounded by repeated flooding that brings sudden, catastrophic damage. During the 2022 floods, satellite imagery confirmed that one third of the country was temporarily underwater, with more than 1,700 people killed and over two million homes damaged or destroyed.

Now, three years later, the 2025 monsoon floods have displaced more than two million people across Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan. As COP 30 approaches, Pakistan – On the Edge: The World’s Climate Warning delivers a clear message: while extreme weather can no longer be stopped, its human cost can be prevented through affordable, community-led adaptation and policy reform.

A Blueprint for Adaptation

The documentary highlights simple, proven interventions that could have saved lives and livelihoods, calling on policymakers to scale and fund them nationally. These community-led adaptation strategies are already emerging across Pakistan, developed by those on the frontlines of climate breakdown. Yet they remain underreported, underfunded, and un-activated in national policy and international climate finance.

Muslim Aid’s policy blueprint urges global leaders and donors to recognise that equitable adaptation solutions already exist within Pakistan — solutions that, if properly supported, can prevent further loss and displacement.

These community-led adaptation policy asks include:

Scaling up climate-smart housing to protect families from floods and heatwaves.
Expanding affordable solar access for cooling, energy security, and resilience.
Reforming hydropower policy to ensure fair water and energy access for downstream communities.
Raising housing and critical infrastructure in coastal and flood-prone areas.
Reviving rivers and injecting freshwater to sustain fisherfolk livelihoods.
Restoring mangroves as natural flood barriers along the Indus Delta.
Developing effective, community-based flood warning systems that reach every household.
Creating green jobs enabled through international collaboration and investment.
Together, these policies form a practical roadmap for preventing future tragedies like those witnessed in Pakistan’s flood zones.

The Film

Filmed across Pakistan’s flood-affected south and landslide-hit north, the documentary follows Amina, a mother who lost her child when her home was swept away, alongside coastal fisherfolk and women farmers rebuilding their lives. Their stories reveal the hidden violence of flooding and the simple interventions that could have prevented it.

Muslim Aid has been building climate-smart homes in Pakistan for more than a decade, providing affordable, flood-resistant housing that could have saved Amina’s family. The film also highlights Pakistan’s position as one of the world’s largest importers of solar panels, showing how accessible renewable energy is already helping communities recover and adapt.

The Scale of the Crisis

Satellite data show that in 2022, one third of Pakistan was under water, with over 75,000 km² submerged and eight million people displaced.
The Indus Delta has lost about 300 km² of land to erosion and rising seas, devastating fishing and farming communities.
Pakistan contributes less than one percent of global emissions yet remains among the world’s most climate-vulnerable nations.