With the monsoon season around the corner, Pakistan collectively awaits the bounty of fresh water across its vast plains while also bracing for the damage it might bring. Flooding has always been a risk for people living around its river systems, but a combination of global warming and unchecked population sprawl has magnified the destruction caused by major floods.

Perhaps most concerning is the fact that Pakistan has not been able to rebuild effectively after each catastrophic event, leaving communities even more vulnerable to subsequent climate events. Building back better—improving infrastructure and water management facilities to prevent future disasters—remains a distant dream. This is aptly demonstrated in Pakistan’s response to the 2022 floods. The apocalyptic flooding left one-third of the country underwater, affected over 33 million people, and killed more than 1,700. As a result, nearly eight million people were displaced from their homes, and many still struggle to find permanent housing.

As has always been the case, our response to the crisis was hampered by budgetary constraints. The country’s struggling economy took another blow due to the vast damage to agriculture and manufacturing, especially in the heavily inundated Sindh. Efforts to garner global support based on notions of climate change equity garnered little tangible assistance, bringing us back to securing loans from international monetary organizations. The Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) approval of a $400 million concessional loan to support the reconstruction of houses and community infrastructure in Sindh is a welcome injection of aid to the affected areas. Building infrastructure, communities, and restoring a growing economic environment in Sindh is crucial.

Yet, loans remain a double-edged sword, especially given Pakistan’s recent economic crisis sparked by an inability to repay loans.