As freak climatic events continue, global bodies warn of an umpteenth instalment of the heatwave. With temperatures expected to stay in the high 40s in May, a much-dreaded harbinger of climate change, there is little the people can do other than brace for an extremely hot and extremely dry summer. Though the anomalous March had come as a pleasant reminder of the springs gone past, experts are already sounding alarm bells over a “disaster in making” on the grounds of unprecedented high temperatures. That the soaring temperatures would come as a death blow to winter-sown crops possibly undermining the premature celebrations over a wheat bumper crop cannot be swept under the rug. Similarly excruciating are the reservations pertaining to dried dams and parched rivers once water scarcity hits. Last year, we had borne the brunt of one of the warmest summers on record. Reeling under historic heatwaves with scalding temperatures and little to no rainfall, punctuated by prolonged power outages made worse by the horrors of the concrete jungle, the lives and livelihoods of millions hung in a precarious balance. While it is heartening to see a proactive climate change ministry issuing heatwave guidelines, its responsibility does not end with simply narrating the administrative SOPs to the provinces. Even though we did not need a flood of biblical proportions to state the obvious, last year’s string of climatic disasters painted our lack of preparedness on the wall. Dark clouds continue to hover over Pakistan as our glacial reserves make us the eighth-most vulnerable country to climate change. Against doom-and-gloom predictions about unhabitable cities and a submerged capital, it is high time we start looking at the bigger picture. Policymakers need to step out of their comfort zones to ensure we have an eye out for any disaster in the offing. Compensations from the big polluters can only sound viable if those at the helm of the affairs wish to do their own share to minimise the damages. Nothing else can do. *