Cooperating on climate

Pakistan has fully woken up to the climate-related challenges it faces. Last year’s floods were a stark reminder of just how bad things could get for the Global South, Pakistan in particular. Last year, the Pakistan team at COP27, led by PM Shehbaz Sharif, Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Minister for Climate Change Sherry Rehman participated in the climate summit with the aim to advocate on behalf of the Global South to secure funding for loss and damage arising from the adverse effects of climate change. On Saturday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Pakistan and Switzerland over disaster management, saying that Pakistan looked forward to Swiss cooperation in getting an advanced warning system regarding natural disasters. The prime minister articulated Pakistan’s position that it is facing the impacts of global climate change, despite having negligible carbon footprints.

This year too, rain-related impacts are clearly seen across the country, authorities saying that at least 50 people have been killed by floods and landslides triggered by monsoon rains since last month. From collapsed roofs to landslides, the rain disaster this year is once again pointing at how important it is for Pakistan to reach out to and ask for cooperation from developed countries regarding disaster management. It has been 18 years since Pakistan experienced its worst earthquake in October 2005. In the ensuing years we saw the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) coupled with similar authorities at the provincial levels (PDMAs) emerge. According to a 2021 World Bank report on climate change, “Pakistan faces some of the highest disaster risk levels in the world, ranked 18 out of 191 countries by the 2020 Inform Risk Index...Pakistan also has high exposure to flooding (ranked jointly 8th), including, riverine, flash, and coastal, as well as some exposure to tropical cyclones and their associated hazards (ranked jointly 40th) and drought (ranked jointly 43rd). Disaster risk in Pakistan is also driven by its social vulnerability.

There is no denying that industrialized and rich countries have a responsibility to support vulnerable nations around the world as these are the economies that precipitated environmental degradation by a ruthless exploitation of resources and carbon emissions. Vulnerable countries have already paid a lot in terms of lost opportunities and missed growth prospects. Every human being has the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. That right can only be fulfilled if climate change effects are mitigated as much as possible, while also allowing affected nations the right to rebuild from the devastation already caused by climate disasters. Cooperating on climate must be the right on the top of the priority list for the Pakistani government, whoever it is led by. It is thus encouraging to see the prime minister acknowledge the urgency of the matter. The only plan to rescue ourselves is to act now.