THE Titanic sank after striking an iceberg that by some estimates was about 120 metres long and between 15m to 30m high. We are home to over 7,000 known glaciers; a recent study estimates the number at 13,000. Among them is the Kutiah Lungma glacier in Gilgit-Baltistan 12 kilometres long and 3 km wide.

Although glaciers have remained frozen for ages, they are now flowing towards us, and not at a glacialpace.

Neither global warming nor the presence of glaciers in Pakistan should surprise anyone. The World Bank has been warning since 2012 in its Turn Down the Heat series that the planet could see a four-degree Celsius temperature rise by the end of the century, enough to cause the oceans to boil over. It also estimates that by 2050, the combined effect of environmental degradation and climate change could lead to an 18 per cent to 20pc loss in Pakistan`s GDP.

But what will surprise everyone is that till 2010, we never thought about monitoring our glaciers. A formal cryosphere monitoring programme was initiated only in 2019 at the Koshik glacier in the Karakoram range. Unfortunately, it is not a case of better late than never, as at least 30 years of data is required to understand the impact of climate change.

A report in this newspaper, a few months back, announced the completion of a project, albeit a restructured version of its original self. No prizes for guessing which part of the project was scrapped: the climate monitoring part.

The $188 million Pakistan Hydromet and Climate Project supported by the World Bank, and in preparation since 2017, experienced its first restructuring within 10 days of becoming effective in 2020. The second restructuring of its development objectives occurred three years later. After 18 months of extension, the project closed down in December 2024 with an overall `moderately satisfactory` rating. Really? one must ask! The project, which aimed to develop weather and climate monitoring infrastructure to enable early warning systems for disaster mitigation was reduced to an emergency relief effort in the aftermath of the 2022 floods.

The implementing agencies the NDMA, PDMAs, the Met Department, the climate change and planning ministries, the centre and provinces once again proved themselves unequal to the task. The original objective was allocated $106m; it was revised down to $60m, and then scrapped altogether, with $0 spent on it.

The emergency response component, which was originally not even part of the project, was allocated $150m, disbursed as a onetime cash transfer of Rs25,000 to vulnera-ble households.

For the uninitiated, no World Bank project could be amended or revised without the approval of its board of directors hence making its management and board equally accountable for agreeing to such audacious changes to a development project by a member country`s government.

There is no harm in getting our share of the IFI loans. How we spend it is where the rub lies. Citizens should hold their governments responsible. The IFIs` management and boards should also be held accountable for flip-flopping between an opportunisticlenderandthe lender oflastresort as it suits careers and their largest shareholders.

Some people argue that we should avoid borrowing for development because of the attached `conditionalities`. But let me ask, would your best friend or even a sibling lend you money without asking, `what is it for, how long will I have to wait, and how will you pay it back?` Remember, we are talking about a loan, not charity or aid,which might be given without question. Those are your conditionalities that our self-styled alternative economists often criticise.

Everything else including but not limited to structural adjustments, spending cuts anddeficit ceilings comes into play because we can`t or won`t answer the basic questions of why, what and when regarding the loan.

The day we can confidently say we`re borrowing for A, B or C, that we will pay it back when due, and that we will do so by generating revenue through a mix of exports and direct taxes, no one will be able to manipulate us into doing anything.

The glaciers are coming, and no Titanic, as we have now learned, will ever be `unsinkable`. The orchestra on the Titanic played on until the last moment, ostensibly to keep up the passengers` spirits. The captain of this doomed ocean liner went down with it.

We seem to be following the script, only we have a band instead of an orchestra, and it plays Nero`s tune on flutes, for we swing between burning and drowning thanks to our acts of omission and commission on climate change. As for the captains, they tend to jump ship the moment they have that sinking feeling. • The wnter is a poet. His latest publication is a collection of satire essays titled R indana.

shahzadsharjeel1@gmail.com