Climate Disinformation in Pakistan: Silencing Indigenous Peoples’ Voice
This baseline research study identifies the forms of climate disinformation prevalent in Pakistan and their impact on the Indigenous Peoples in the country. It reveals that climate disinformation is overwhelmingly crisis-triggered, emotionally charged and predominantly distributed through digital platforms, compounding the vulnerability of marginalised communities and impeding effective climate response. The report is produced by IMS, Mediastan and partner IRADA with support from the Digital Democracy Initiative.
Key findings
- Around 95% of climate disinformation cases emerged during high-impact events (floods, heatwaves or smog), with 98% spread via social media and messaging apps, primarily in Urdu and regional languages.
- The study identifies disinformation into categories of alarmist or sensationalized content, conspiracy-driven narratives, denial or delay narratives, oversimplified or false solutions and religious fatalism, each shaping public perception and response in unique ways.
- Disinformation undermines community safety, creates psychological distress, erodes trust in institutions, delegitimises indigenous knowledge and intensifies the exclusion of Indigenous Peoples from climate policy and communication.
Core recommendations:
- Federal and provincial governments should embed climate information integrity into national frameworks (e.g., National Adaptation Plan, Nationally Determined Contributions) and establish dedicated climate communication units for real-time, multilingual alerts.
- NGOs and CSOs should create national alliances for fact-checking, establish community-based verification networks, and promote digital literacy and information verification, especially among IPs.
- Media organisations must institutionalise fact-checking, train journalists in climate science and adopt ethical editorial standards while technology companies should implement algorithmic accountability and support rapid-response climate information channels.
Strategic actions
To build resilience against climate disinformation, Pakistan must adopt a whole-of-society approach that puts focus on truth, transparency and inclusivity. This means not only reforming climate communication systems and strengthening institutional collaboration but also empowering Indigenous communities through access to credible, culturally relevant information and active participation in climate governance. By developing priority actions on information integrity and indigenous knowledge, Pakistan can transform its climate response from reactive crisis management to proactive, equitable adaptation and ensure that the most vulnerable are informed, included and made resilient.
