AFP – Pakistan received over USD9 billion in pledges on Monday to help it recover from last year’s catastrophic floods, vowing to become a model for how countries can build climate change resilience.
Pakistan is still reeling from the unprecedented deluge that submerged huge swathes and killed more than 1,700 people, while over 33 million others suffered its impacts.
“We are perhaps the first country ever that has seen a third of its landmass underwater,” Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari told AFP at the end of an international conference in Geneva seeking support for his country’s resilient flood recovery.
“Unfortunately, we won’t be the last.”
He voiced hope that the “resounding success” of the conference, which garnered more pledges than hoped for, could “provide a template going forward for future countries who find themselves in distress”.
Pakistan, with the world’s fifth-largest population, generates less than one per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions but is one of the nations most vulnerable to extreme weather caused by global warming.
United Nations (UN) chief Antonio Guterres called for “massive investments” to help Pakistan recover from a “monsoon on steroids”.
“Countries on the frontlines of the climate crisis need massive support,” he said, while Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif warned his country was “racing against time” to deal with towering needs.
“We need to give 33 million people their future back.”
The Resilient Recovery, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Framework, which Pakistan presented at the UN-sponsored conference, calls for USD16.3 billion over the next three years for the initial efforts to rebuild and improve its ability to withstand future climate shocks. Pakistan said it should be able to cover half the cost but pleaded with the international community to fund the rest.
