“If there is any doubt about casualties and damage, go to Pakistan.” he told the delegates In the International Conference on Climate Resilient Pakistan. “There are casualties. There is damage. The devastation of climate change is real. From floods and droughts to hurricanes and torrential rains. And as always, the countries least responsible are the first to suffer.”
Over 33 million affected
More than 33 million people were affected by the floods in Sindh and Balochistan, widely considered Pakistan’s worst climate disaster.
Even today, months after the first emergency, the flood waters have only partially receded and the disaster is far from over for around eight million people who have had to flee the rising tides, which have also claimed the lives of more than 1,700 people.
Catastrophic damage
More than 2.2 million homes were destroyed, along with 13 percent of all health facilities, 4.4 million hectares of farmland and more than 8,000 kilometers of roads and other vital infrastructure – including some 440 bridges.
The cost of supporting communities hit in every way possible by Pakistan’s unprecedented monsoon rains, which began last June, “will total over $16 billionand far more are needed in the longer term,” said the UN Secretary-General.
Speaks later at a joint press event Speaking to the Pakistani Prime Minister, the UN chief said it was a matter of justice and not just a gesture of solidarity that Pakistan received sufficient support. He said that the conference is only the beginning of this process. As CO2 emissions continue to rise, he said he was “deeply frustrated that world leaders are failing to bring the necessary action and investment to this life-or-death emergency.”
Vulnerable children affected
Parallel to the conference in Geneva UN Children’s Fund UNICEF underscored the ongoing human cost of the emergency in Pakistan.
“Up to four million children still live near contaminated and standing floodsrisk their survival and well-being,” the UN agency said.
Acute respiratory infections have “exploded” in flood-hit areas, UNICEF continued, while the number of children suffering from severe acute malnutrition in the same areas almost doubled between July and December compared to 2021, with some remaining 1.5 million youth still need life-saving nutrition interventions.
On November 3, 2022, 15-year-old Sugra, whose home was destroyed in recent floods, is holding her brother Fayaz in Jacobabad, Sindh province, Pakistan.
Figures about the odds
The UN chief reiterated the need to help developing countries like Pakistan become more resilient to the effects of climate change and insisted the international banking system needed to be reformed “to right a fundamental wrong”.
He added: “Pakistan is doubly victims of climate chaos and a morally bankrupt global financial system. This system routinely denies middle-income countries the debt relief and concessional financing needed to invest in natural disaster resilience. So we need creative ways for developing countries to access debt relief and concessional financing when they need it most.”
Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the conference, Mr. Guterres stressed that the UN has been actively pursuing the issue of ethical global financial reform.
In particular, he explained that the organization had sought support for post-COVID development financing in talks with the G7 and G20 groups of developed nations, as well as with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The Mechanics of Money: Everything changes
“It is very clear that the current system is biased,” he said. “The system was devised by a group of rich countries and of course benefits the rich countries in general. So, first of all, we have to recognize that we have a situation right now in the developing world where countries are choking on debt and countries don’t have access to the financial resources they need to be able to not just tackle the dramatic issues challenges they face, but also the implementation Sustainable Development Goals.”
The UN Secretary-General also called on multilateral development banks to “change their business model” by taking more risks and using private finance more often.
Secretary-General António Guterres (not seen) witnessed the effects of the floods in the provinces of Sindh and Balochistan along with Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
Unfair Advantage
“Private finance is now available to many developing countries only at very high interest rates that do not solve their problems,” explained Mr. Guterres. “So multilateral development banks need to offer more guarantees, even beyond their lending, to enable private financing at reasonable costs, need to be the first risk takers and coalitions of financial institutions to support developing countries, and this is true in relation to situations like … Pakistan .”
The UN Secretary-General also reiterated his demand that developing countries should be entitled to cheap credit just like their more industrialized counterparts.
“My country Portugal, even in this very difficult situation and the very high debt ratio, is still able to get financing at three or four percent interest… I was with President Ruto from Kenya a few days ago and he told me, when trying to go to the market to finance the country, the best offer they had was 14 percent. It shows that there is a fundamental injustice in today’s system and that we need effective reforms.”
Prem Chand, Head of UNICEF Sindh Field Office, watches as 11-year-old Rahman wears a jacket provided by UNICEF during the distribution of winter gear in Mitho Babbar village, Dadu district, Sindh province.
Accompanying Mr Guterres, Pakistani Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif explained why his country needs international solidarity now more than ever.
“We must give back a future to 33 million people who have been severely affected by the floods,” he said. “Their families need to be on their feet and they need to get back to life and make a living.”
“Tomorrow we could be them”
Federal Foreign Affairs Councilor Ignazio Cassis, representing the host country of the conference, argued that supporting countries hit by natural disasters is common sense: “Today, you, Pakistan, need help. But tomorrow it could be us, all of us. One thing is certain: none of us are safe. We are all concerned about climate change, a global threat that requires a global response.”
Following this call for solidarity between nations, French President Emmanuel Macron attended the conference via video link to announce that France had pledged 360 million euros “to respond to the challenge of rebuilding resilience and adapting to the… to respond to climate change”.
But the French president also noted that just 30 percent of the UN’s emergency aid requests have been made available, just as winter temperatures have dropped.
Profound change
Achim Steiner, Administrator of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). Stressed the magnitude of the global threat posed by climate change and the relevance of the need to find funds for developing countries to adapt to climate change:
“Look east, in Australia, extraordinary floods; look west in california, extreme weather events, look to europe and people wonder what happened to the snow in the winter, we live in fundamentally changing times.”
Pledges of Support
As the conference drew to a close, delegates announced commitments totaling more than $9 billion to meet critical post-disaster needs and the ongoing humanitarian response as part of Pakistan’s plan for resilient recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction.
Immediate priorities include restoring the livelihoods of affected people, including the most vulnerable, as well as essential services “in a resilient and sustainable” manner, the co-chairs said.
