From floodwaters to the global stage: FIU grad student was Pakistan’s voice at COP30

When catastrophic floods swallowed nearly one-third of Pakistan in 2022, much of the world barely noticed.

Villages vanished. Crops were destroyed. Families were displaced for months. Yet inside Pakistan, national media coverage was sparse, especially around the country’s poorest province, Balochistan.

Sidra Riaz couldn’t stay silent.

At the time, she was a university lecturer in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, where she taught environmental management to undergraduates. As the floods stretched from March through October, she watched communities suffer while the crisis remained largely invisible beyond local borders. So she did what many young activists do when traditional systems fail: She turned to social media.

Her campaign was built around a simple but devastating message, “Balochistan is drowning,” and it caught fire.

“Balochistan is home to nearly 15 million people, yet our crisis was barely covered,” Riaz said. “Social media helped force attention where there was none.”

That moment marked a turning point. Today, Riaz is no longer just amplifying voices from the margins. She is representing them on the world’s largest climate stage.

Representing her homeland

In November, Riaz served as a delegate to the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Belém, Brazil, joining representatives from more than 190 countries. Heads of state, scientists, business leaders and civil society groups gathered to negotiate climate finance, emissions reduction and adaptation strategies for a warming world.

Riaz attended not as an observer but as a policy contributor. Working with the an official youth constituency group of the United Nations, she helped author a youth-led policy document shaped by voices from more than 130 countries and representing the priorities of over 30,000 young people worldwide. The statement, which was formally delivered at the convention, called for tronger adaptation efforts and accountability for climate-related loss and damage.

For Riaz, the work was deeply personal. “I became a bridge between local Pakistani communities, especially women and youth, and global climate decision-makers,” she said. “I was advocating for people whose homes, crops, and ancestral lands were damaged, including my own family’s.”

From Pakistan to FIU

Riaz is now a presidential fellow and Ph.D. student in the Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs with a focus on public policy and administration. Her research centers on climate governance and how environmental decisions disproportionately affect vulnerable populations.

She arrived in Miami after earning both her undergraduate and master’s degrees at Pakistan’s National Defence University. At FIU, her advisor praises her involvement.

“Sidra exemplifies a scholar whose passion drives real-world change,” Professor N. Emel Ganapati said. “She translates ideas into action and brings global leadership into the classroom. Her dedication to women and youth, especially those most vulnerable to climate disasters, is deeply inspiring.”

Building change from the ground up

Long before COP30, Riaz was organizing at the grassroots level. As a young lecturer at Pakistan’s National University of Modern Languages, she guided students who led initiatives around issues such as plastic reduction and sustainable living.

Her focus on young people is strategic. The majority of Pakistan’s population is under 30, a generation that will bear the brunt of climate impacts.

Her work eventually grew into an organization she founded to support community-led conservation and climate education. “Pakistan is among the countries most vulnerable to climate change,” Riaz said. “If solutions don’t include youth and women, they will fail.”

Riaz’s journey from a social media campaign has become a seat at the table has confirmed for her that acting on lived experience and empowering youth remain key to real change.

And she’s just getting started.