(United Nations) “Pakistan is a litmus test for climate justice,” the UN Secretary-General said on Wednesday, deploring the broken promises of the international community to rebuild the country ravaged a year ago by floods “apocalyptic”.
The country is still trying to recover from this disaster which affected almost a third of its territory in 2022, affecting more than 33 million people, displacing eight million, and causing more than 1,700 deaths.
“A year has passed since these apocalyptic floods” but “although the water has largely receded, the needs remain”, declared Antonio Guterres during a special session of the UN General Assembly devoted to this disaster which he described as a “chronicle of the predicted climate chaos”.
In January, the international community pledged a total of nine billion dollars to rebuild the country.
“But it was mostly loans. And Pakistan is still waiting for a large part of the funds, the delays are undermining the efforts of residents to rebuild their lives,” accused the secretary general.
The country, which represents less than 1% of greenhouse gas emissions responsible for the warming that likely aggravated the extreme rains of the 2022 monsoon, “deserves this massive support,” he insisted.
Pakistan is a double victim: of climate chaos and of our outdated and unfair international financial system that prevents middle-income countries from accessing the resources needed to invest in adaptation and resilience.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres
So “Pakistan is a litmus test for climate justice. The responsibility is clear. Just like the solutions,” he said.
“Countries that have contributed the most to climate change must do the most to correct the damage it has caused. Starting with Pakistan, and today,” insisted the Secretary General.
He notably called for the establishment of the fund intended to compensate for the “loss and damage” of developing countries, promised at COP27 at the end of 2022.
Before once again repeating his more general call to abandon fossil fuels.
“I have been warning for a long time that climate chaos is knocking on everyone’s door. Today he is breaking down that door, from Libya to the Horn of Africa, to China, to Canada and beyond.”