ISLAMABAD: In a first, a panel of Pakistani experts, artisans and heritage keepers convened online during Climate Week NYC, warning that environmental changes are eroding the country’s intangible cultural heritage, organizers said in a statement on Friday.
Titled “Stitching Survival: Reclaiming Heritage and Climate Justice Through the Art of Displaced Pakistani Artisans,” the session was held as part of the Arts for the Future Festival, an international gathering that brings together artists, activists and policymakers to explore how culture and heritage can help build more resilient futures.
Held on Sept. 27 during Climate Week NYC alongside the UN General Assembly, the panel highlighted how extreme weather is damaging Pakistan’s landscapes as well as its traditions, crafts, oral histories and indigenous knowledge systems.
“Pakistan is too often missing from the global creative economy but when we are left out, the world loses centuries of sustainable knowledge and artistry,” said Amneh Shaikh-Farooqui, chair and curator of the Women of the World Festival in Pakistan.
“Our artisans aren’t just makers,” he continued. “They are leaders, carrying cycles of sustainability that the world urgently needs.”
London-based couture designer Omar Mansoor criticized the rise of fast fashion and its environmental impact, calling for a shift toward more sustainable practices in the global fashion industry.
Karachi-based artist Ayman Babar spoke about the destruction of indigenous cotton crops due to corporate practices and weak regulation, urging “seed sovereignty” to ensure genuine sustainability.
Senior journalist Mohsin Sayeed stressed the pivotal role of rural communities, describing them as “the legacy of ancient civilizations” whose knowledge was essential for survival amid the climate crisis.
“To protect heritage is to protect the soil of memory,” he said. “Art is not a luxury in crisis but a lifeline. The Global North needs to learn to listen to us, not talk at us. We are inheritors of forms of living that have survived man-made and natural disasters.”
“There is a truth to indigenous knowledge and their way of living that we simply cannot afford to ignore anymore,” he added.
Publisher Mehr Husain highlighted the human cost of climate change, speaking about her ancestral village of Shorkot, which has been devastated by recent floods.
“When our lands are washed away, it is not only our homes that are lost but the songs, symbols, stitches, stories that carry our history and identity,” she said. “This panel seeks not only to inform but to spark systemic shifts in how heritage, art and climate policy intersect and reinforce one another.”
