ISLAMABAD:
The failure to fulfill pledges to reconstruct Pakistan a year after fatal floods overwhelmed a third of the country presents “a litmus test for climate justice,” the president of the United Nations said on Wednesday.
According to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, “billions were pledged” by wealthy nations in the aftermath of the disaster, but “the vast majority was in loans.” And most of the money is still owed to Pakistan.
During a special session dedicated to the disaster, the UN head claimed that the Asian nation was “a double victim” of “climate chaos and of our outdated and unjust global financial system,” and that delays were harming people’s efforts to restore their lives.
Pakistan is still recovering from the effects of the torrential monsoon rains that killed around 1,700 and displaced eight million people in January, when $9 billion was pledged to help rebuild the country.
Guterres claimed that more than eight million people in flood-affected areas do not have access to clean water, and that Pakistan is only partially to blame for the greenhouse gas emissions that led to last year’s “climate chaos.”
When it comes to fixing the damage caused by global warming, it’s only fair that the countries most responsible for it foot the bill.
Guterres also advocated for the establishment of a “loss and damage” fund to compensate vulnerable developing nations like Pakistan that will suffer disproportionately from climate change.
A similar fund was proposed at COP27 in the autumn of 2017, however its implementation has been delayed. The United Arab Emirates will be hosting COP28 this year, and this topic will be discussed there.
Guterres reiterated his call for the world to transition away from fossil fuels, but this time he stressed that climate change is no longer “knocking on everyone’s door.”
From Libya to the Horn of Africa, China to Canada and beyond, “today it is beating down that door.”
