Climate Disinformation in Pakistan: Silencing Indigenous Peoples’ Voices

This report examines the intersection of climate disinformation and its impact on Indigenous Peoples in Pakistan, showing how false and misleading climate narratives silence Indigenous voices, distort public understanding and weaken community resilience in the face of a deepening climate crisis.

Indigenous Peoples in Pakistan comprise diverse tribal, pastoral, coastal and forest-dependent communities whose lives and livelihoods are closely tied to fragile ecosystems. Despite their heightened exposure to floods, heatwaves, droughts and environmental degradation, Indigenous communities remain marginalised in climate communication and policy processes, compounded by the absence of formal constitutional recognition and limited access to reliable information.

The report finds that during climate-related crises, authorities, political actors and online networks often exploit information gaps through digitally amplified climate disinformation. Sensationalised content, conspiracy-driven narratives, denial and delay messaging, false solutions and religious fatalism circulate widely across social media and messaging platforms, particularly in Urdu and regional languages. These narratives undermine trust in science and institutions, discourage Indigenous knowledge systems and intensify existing inequalities.

By unpacking Pakistan’s information disorder, the report identifies the dominant forms of climate disinformation and analyses how they affect Indigenous Peoples’ safety, livelihoods, psychological wellbeing and participation in climate governance. It shows that climate disinformation silences Indigenous voices at critical moments when accurate information is most needed.

To address this, the report maps five key forms of climate disinformation, outlines their impacts on Indigenous Peoples and presents a set of recommendations for policymakers, media, civil society, technology companies and Indigenous communities to strengthen information integrity and climate resilience.

The report was published by International Media Support in partnership with Institute for Research, Advocacy and Development.