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Karachi and Dhaka are set to receive a staggering 5.4 million climate migrants by 2050, making them the only Asia-Pacific cities among the 10 most affected cities in the Global South, according to a UN-ESCAP report.
The report, titled “Urban Transformation in Asia and the Pacific: From Growth to Resilience,” warns that if global temperatures exceed 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, Karachi could see 2.4 million new climate migrants, while Dhaka would receive 3.07 million.
Karachi, plagued by fragmented governance, already struggles with poor infrastructure and climate resilience, ranking low in global livability indexes.
The August 2020 floods exposed these governance issues, with Karachi suffering severe damage while better-managed cities like Lahore remained relatively unscathed.
Asia and the Pacific are home to 66.6 million migrants, and by 2050, the region’s urban population will increase by 1.2 billion.
Rapid urbanization, water shortages, extreme heat, and land subsidence pose major challenges for megacities like Karachi, Dhaka, and Mumbai.
The report urges governments to strengthen regional cooperation, improve urban climate resilience, and promote sustainable urbanization to mitigate the crisis.
