Because this is about 'climate change', I will not address other issues like extremism here; on that, I will only say that nations go through phases and so is Pakistan and it is my understanding that if/when Pakistan addresses climate issues effectively, especially water, then radicalism etc will be overcome; the Billion Tree Tsunami has already improved Pakistan's position in a critical index, as shared above by me.
Coming to the quoted part, if the brunt of the climate change issues would be limited to the coastal areas then Pakistan should be still better than many other nations: We are talking about even rich countries like The Bahamas facing catastrophe and some countries disappearing altogether. Also the 'excessive and ill-planned urbanization' is rampant across much of the 3rd world--and not just in Pakistan. Good thing about such problems is that there are 'models' to follow to fix such problems: Don't re-invent the wheel. Learn from the others.
In short, Climate Change is likely to affect most part of the world and even the rich countries will (and have been) face consequences. For Pakistan to cope with the Climate Change crises, visionary leadership is required. A leadership which should know that water will be more important that geopolitical rivalries. A leadership which should know that putting even one extra $ into a nuclear missile or another fighter-aircraft when effective deterrence is already achieved (with Chinese help) would be ill-advised and that the extra $ should be put into education and conservation. And I will say something which people would hate to hear in this forum: All leaders of Pakistan after Zulfi Bhutto have been towering dwarfs when it comes to making far reaching decisions.
