Urban communities’ readiness for low-cost nature-based climate adaptation in Pakistan

Climate change poses serious challenges to cities around the world, undermining their economic potential to generate economic growth and improve the quality of life. While Pakistani cities frequently experience extreme temperatures, heat waves, humidity, flooding, and acute water shortages; their susceptibility is aggravated by socioeconomic challenges such as poverty, unemployment, and inadequate provisions of basic services. Estimates suggest that more than half of the Pakistani population will be residing in cities by 2050, meaning that the urban population will be highly vulnerable to climate extremes. Due to the capacity and resource constraints of the relevant government departments, empowering households and communities to adapt to climate change is inevitable. Against this background, the present research investigates citizens’ readiness to adopt low-cost nature-based climate adaptation options in two Pakistani cities. Using a primary survey and a binary logistic regression technique, this study advances the existing knowledge by exploring cost-effective nature-based adaptation solutions in a communal setting where decision-making is often collective and influenced by social norms. The findings reveal that citizens’ perceptions of weather changes, e.g. rainfall decrease, risk of an unstable future, and experience of the natural environment are key predictors of their adaptation behavior. Interestingly, citizens’ social networks also influence their adaptation behavior which is an expected result considering that Pakistan is a social norms-driven society where choices and decision-making have a communal aspect. Lastly, socioeconomic characteristics, such as age and education affect citizens’ readiness to adapt to study areas.