The country needs a minimum of USD 16 Billion to recover from last summer’s devastating flooding that submerged more than one-third of Pakistan, says PM Shehbaz Sharif. UN chief Antonio Guterres urged “massive investments “from the international community.
The International Conference on Climate Resilient Pakistan was held in Geneva on January 9 to raise funds for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of flood-hit Pakistan. The UN chief called it a “climate disaster of monumental scale” that killed more than 1700 people, affected a total of more than 33 million, and pushed back 9 million people to the brink of poverty.
The conference, co-hosted by the UN, gathered world leaders from the public sector, private sector, and civil society. French President Emmanuel Macron took part virtually.
The total damage amounts to more than USD 30 billion. The country needs a minimum of USD 16 Billion to recover from the last summer’s devastating flooding that submerged more than one-third of Pakistan, says PM Shehbaz Sharif. Half of this was expected from the international community.
“The epic floods were nothing short of a monsoon on steroids -submerging one-third of the country, three times the area of my own country, Portugal,” the UN chief said and urged for “massive investment “from the international community.
“8.75 Billion Dollar -USAID USD 100 million, France USD 345 million, total USD 8.75 billion, in line with the collaborative vision of coalition vision of coalition of willing,” Pakistan Information and Broadcasting Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb tweets after the day-long conference.
This total of USD 8.57 billion is funded by the European Union, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, and other members of the international community. French President Emmanuel Macron took part virtually.Emissions of heat-trapping gasses into the atmosphere over generations are warming the global climate. Pakistan emits less than 1 % of these heat-trapping gasses. But like any other developing country, it has to take the brunt of the climate-induced devastation. People in South Asia are 15 %more likely to die from climate change than elsewhere.
Millions of people in Pakistan are still living near contaminated and stagnant flood waters.
UN’s COP27 climate summit in November discussed the global concerns that rich countries pay poor and developing countries for the loss and damage caused by climate change. Flood-hit Pakistan proved the need for a “loss and damage “fund agreed upon at COP27 to help developing countries from the impact of Global warming.
“We need to be honest about the brutal injustices of loss and damage suffered by developing nations like Pakistan because of climate change,” said the UN chief
