ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Climate Change and Environmental Coordination 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 Institutes (SDPI) 28th Sustainable Development Conference at the Allama Iqbal Open University, 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. Its 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,” he said.

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, adding that water is becoming the next weapon.

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 40 per cent of the world’s carbon emissions were produced by just two countries, while 10 nations accounted for 75 per cent yet the same 10 received around 85 per cent of global green financing.

The minister said 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.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh’s Adviser to the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change Syeda Rizwana Hasan warned that multilateralism was losing ground amid growing political unrest in South Asia.

She said worsening natural disasters, soil degradation, and regional disputes particularly between upper and lower riparian nations threatened millions of lives.

Pakistan has seen actions by upper riparian that violate international law, she noted.

UN Resident Coordinator and humanitarian coordinator Pakistan Mohamed Yahya said the era of small projects was over, adding that we can support governments technically, but we cannot replace them.

AIOU Vice-Chancellor Dr Nasir Mahmood called upon the world to shift from fragmented projects to bold, regional programmes to tackle shared environmental challenges.

He said the private sector had often seen as a bystander to policy, which was proving to be a partner in transformation from climate-resilient infrastructure and renewable energy ventures to digital inclusion and sustainable production.

Published in Dawn, November 5th, 2025