(Geneva) Pakistan, “a victim of climate chaos and a morally bankrupt global financial system”, needs “massive investment” from the international community to rebuild after devastating summer floods, claimed on Monday the head of the UN.
“No country deserves to suffer what happened to Pakistan”, “we must respond to the heroic response of the Pakistani people […] through massive investments,” said Antonio Guterres.
He was speaking at the opening of an international conference to mobilize half of the 16.3 billion dollars deemed necessary to rebuild the country in particular so that it can better resist the consequences of climate change.
Pakistan, the fifth most populous country in the world with 216 million inhabitants, is responsible for less than 1% of greenhouse gas emissions. But it is one of the most vulnerable to the increasing number of extreme weather events.
The devastating floods – which killed more than 1,700 people and affected more than 33 million others – and the global energy crisis have increased the pressure on the Pakistani economy, plunging the country into an extremely difficult financial situation.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif told the conference that his country was in a “race against time” to meet immense needs. “We are at a turning point in history,” he warned.
The floods are “the greatest climatic disaster in the history of our country”, added the Pakistani Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, describing the extent of the damage as “monumental”.
“Creative” international funding
The UN and Pakistan on Monday called on states, organizations and businesses to increase their support, including financial support, for the country’s long-term reconstruction and climate resilience plan.
“Pakistan is a double victim of climate chaos and a morally bankrupt global financial system,” noted the UN Secretary General.
He lamented that the international financial system does not provide enough support to middle-income countries that need to “invest in resilience to natural disasters”, by providing debt relief or new financing, and called for “creative” international funding to help these countries “when they need it most”.
According to Pakistan’s “Resilient Recovery, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Plan”, officially presented at the conference on Monday, some 16.3 billion dollars (15.3 billion euros) are needed in total.
The Pakistani government believes it can fund half of it through its own budget and public-private partnerships, but needs the international community to pay for the rest.
French President Emmanuel Macron announced 360 million euros in projects to help with reconstruction, and another 10 million for emergency aid.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU would provide an additional €10 million to bring humanitarian aid to €172 million.
Not just a donor conference
Islamabad and the UN explained that Monday’s conference, attended by representatives of some 40 countries, the World Bank and development banks, is much broader than a traditional donors’ conference, as it seeks to establish a long-term international partnership focused on reconstruction, but also aimed at improving Pakistan’s climate resilience.
Large swaths of the territory have remained flooded for months and the waters, which at one time covered up to a third of the country, have still not receded from some southern areas. The destruction is immense.
According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), up to four million children still live near contaminated and stagnant floodwaters.
Millions of people remain displaced, far from their homes, and those who have been able to return home often find damaged or destroyed homes and fields covered in mud that cannot be planted.
Food prices have soared and the number of food-insecure Pakistanis has doubled to 14.6 million, according to the UN.
The World Bank estimates that up to nine million more people could fall into poverty as a result of the disaster.