SHARM EL-SHEIKH: Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday stressed that climate-induced changes had provided an opportunity for the global community to seize the moment and chart a course to secure its future and support the vulnerable communities in the countries like Pakistan.
Addressing a high-level segment of COP 27 titled “Climate Change and Sustainability of Vulnerable Communities”, the prime minister underlined the need for collective efforts and sharing of resources and technology with the vulnerable countries like Pakistan, which had braced the worst devastation caused by climate-induced floods.
The prime minister co-chaired the roundtable with his Norwegian counterpart.
The prime minister stressed that they should put their resources together with collective efforts to ward off the impacts of climate change.
The task was herculean, but they must address the climate change impacts with shared responsibility and by enhancing the capacity and supporting developing countries like Pakistan to address the issue.
The prime minister said that during the recent devastating floods, Pakistan suffered massive damages, and according to estimates, these losses stood at more than $30 billion. Millions of houses and standing crops spread over 4 million acres of land had been washed away.
The prime minister observed that Pakistan had been among the countries that contributed to less than 1 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.
He said climate change had ravaged the country, adding that it was very important for the world to realize that no more countries could become victims of these climate-induced changes.
He recounted that the road infrastructure had been damaged in Pakistan, with hundreds of bridges and flyovers washed away.
The prime minister further stressed that it was now high time for this august assembly to consider the action plan and save any country from becoming the victim of climate change.
He elaborated that the country was still going through rehabilitation and reconstruction. At the same time, the stagnant flood water posed a danger to the health of thousands of children and their parents as the flood-hit population was suffering from severe diseases like malaria and dysentery.
Sharing his deep concerns over the impacts of climate change, the prime minister said that it must not happen again and that it was their collective responsibility for the future, and they must realize their responsibilities.
The prime minister also acknowledged the support provided by the world community and the friendly countries to the flood-affected population of Pakistan.
He mentioned that they had been redirecting the foreign donations and the local resources for the relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts.
The prime minister highlighted his government’s efforts to provide relief to the flood-hit populace through the social security network of the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), with which they immediately transferred cash amounts to the affected population.
Later, in his concluding remarks at the session, the prime minister said that developing countries like Pakistan had suffered immensely due to natural calamities and had limited resources to overcome the challenges.
He said the developing countries were also short of resources to meet the essential requirement of a considerable portion of the population.
He said Pakistan had established bodies like the National Disaster Management Authority and similar provincial bodies, but the country was in dire need of resources for their empowerment to enable them to meet the challenges.
He emphasised the development of a robust mechanism to support the developing countries and that the debt-burdened states would not be able to cope with a situation similar to the one caused by the climate change-induced floods in Pakistan.
The prime minister reiterated his call for an urgent need for an early warning system as part of the preparedness against natural calamities.
He told the international gathering that following the flash floods, Pakistan was facing difficulty in meeting its basic needs like wheat, palm oil and other agricultural products.
The prime minister urged the international community to come forward with “solid solutions” to support vulnerable communities and empower them to enhance their capacity enabling them to overcome climate change-induced disasters. APP
