Muhemmed Aejaz
Pakistan and the United Nations (UN) are co-hosting an ‘International Conference on Climate Resilient Pakistan’, in Geneva, Switzerland on 9 January 2023.
The conference is being organized in the backdrop of devastating floods in Pakistan in 2022. Co-chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, a ‘Reconstruction Rehabilitation, Recovery and Resilience Framework’ (4RF) would be presented, seeking international support to rehabilitate the affected population and reconstruct the damaged infrastructure in Pakistan. The framework is based on the Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) prepared with the support of the ADB, the EU, the UN agencies and the World Bank.
In the summer of 2022, Pakistan has experienced the harshest extremes of the phenomenon of Climate Change. Following two separate, record-setting, back-to-back heat waves in May and June, Pakistan was hit by record-breaking torrential rains and floods. This was described by the UN Secretary General as “a monsoon on steroids”. Within a few weeks, one-third of Pakistan was submerged in flood waters and 90 out of its 150 districts were declared calamity hit.
Facts and figures of the ensuing damage remain horrific, not recorded in any such previous natural calamity. With 1,700 people killed; 12,000 injured; 1 million livestock lost; 5.5 million acres of crops destroyed (3% of GDP); two million houses in 400 villages, and several thousand schools and hospitals destroyed; and 13,000 KMs of roads and 400 washed away bridges, Pakistan has been hit hard. In all, 33 million people or 1 in 7 inhabitants have been affected thus pushing an additional 9.5 million people below the poverty line. Sindh remains the worst affected province followed by Balochistan, KPK and Punjab.
For the second time within a span of 12 years, Pakistan has faced this mammoth natural disaster that is not of its own making. Floods in 2010, precipitated by a once in 50-year rainfall, which the then UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon had noted as “the worst disaster he had ever seen”, were followed last year by another episode, far more severe in its intensity, devastation, impact and spread. The PDNA has estimated total damages and economical losses toping US$ 30.1 billion in 17 key sectors, while the needs for recovery and rehabilitation are assessed at over US$ 16 billion.
Despite contributing less than 1 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, during past two decades Pakistan has unfortunately remained among the top 10 most vulnerable countries on the Climate Risk Index. The country has suffered 10,000 fatalities and billions of dollars in losses due to 173 climate related disasters in this period.
The people and government of Pakistan have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of sympathy and support from the international community, ever since.
We are grateful to friends of Pakistan, and especially brotherly nations like Qatar, who have extended all-out assistance in rescue and rehabilitation operations following the disaster. Extensive media coverage of the events also greatly helped. It not only sensitized the international community about the unavoidable scourge we all face in the global climate change, but also quickly galvanized assistance and the much needed initial rescue efforts to minimize the loss of life. Four months on, some of the waters may have receded but the lives of millions of people in all parts of Pakistan have yet to return to normal.
An aerial view of villages submerged in 2022 floods in Pakistan.
A very large number among the 8 million people displaced from their homes still remains without a shelter. A long road to recovery lies ahead for the nation.
Given its painful experience at the hands of unprecedented climate change events, Pakistan has embarked on a holistic approach in helping prevent such disasters in future that require action both at the national and international levels. During COP 27 held recently, Pakistan strongly highlighted the need for concrete action, as a global response, in helping the developing countries face natural disasters caused by climate change. The Senate of Pakistan, as part of its Golden Jubilee Celebrations in March 2023, is planning to host a one day international conference on “Climate Change: A Wake-up Call for the Nations and Role of Parliaments”.
The 2022 floods in Pakistan are a stark reminder of the clear and present danger the world faces at the hands of the global Climate Change. Pakistan considers it a duty to share its experience and speak on behalf of the developing nations who, ironically, remain the most frequent sufferers of this worrying global phenomenon for no fault of their own. The developing world is paying the costs for others’ actions, despite its negligible contribution to total greenhouse gas emissions in the world.
The Pakistan (4RF) Conference in Geneva, being co-hosted with the UN, will emphasize both the global nature of the challenge posed by Climate Change as much as the global responsibility to elicit an effective, global response in this regard. The 4RF adopts an outcome-based approach through achieving four specific Strategic Recovery Objectives (SROs). These mainly relate to enhancing governance and capacities of the concerned institutions; restoring livelihoods; ensuring social inclusion; and restoring and improving basic services in a resilient and sustainable manner. The 4RF will particularly showcase a policy framework, the required institutional arrangements, requisite financing strategy and the implementation and monitoring arrangements.
The 4RF – Resilient Recovery, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Framework focuses on the initial Recovery and Rehabilitation phase, which entails a minimum funding of US $16.3 billion. The subsequent Reconstruction phase would require additional US $ 13.5 billion over a period of 10 years. Pakistan has already mobilized a significant amount of over US $ 1.5 billion from its own national resources for financing relief and recovery activities. However the challenge is too huge for Pakistan to face alone and it looks forward to support and assistance of all its friends, partners and the international community.
Pakistan and the UN have extended joint invitations to various Heads of State, Heads of Government as well as to the donor agencies, international financial institutions and major development funds to participate in the conference. His Highness the Amir of Qatar has been invited to grace the occasion with his presence. Prime Minister of Pakistan had recently briefed the Amir over telephone, about the aims, objectives and expected outcomes of the International Conference. Qatar has played a lead role in furthering the cause of creating wider global understanding on issues related to environment. Qatar had hosted COP 18 in 2012, and environmental issues remain a core element in Qatar’s development goals under its leadership’s far reaching Vision 2030. We are confident of its continued, strong support of the ongoing efforts in this regard.
Time and again, Pakistani nation has demonstrated its capacity, resolve and resilience in the face of adversity and calamity. Pakistan’s front-line role and contributions in confronting and successfully defeating the scourge of terrorism and extremism have been acknowledged globally. This time again, Pakistan, as one of the primary victims of the specter of climate change and its associated natural disasters, is ready to play its due role towards enhancing general awareness and eliciting the much needed global response to prevent any future calamities with the support of its friends, allies, brotherly nations and international partners.
