-PM humbled by the invitation to co-chair 27th UN Climate Change Conference next month -World Bank estimates Pakistan flood losses at $40bn, says Climate Change Minister
-Urges int’l community to help Pakistan
-Pledges govt has to work on rehabilitation of flood affectees
-Warns health crisis in country is now intensifying
By Anzal Amin
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has been entrusted to Co-Chair the 27th UN Climate Change Conference of Parties (COP-27) along with the Egyptian President and Norwegian Prime Minister.
The premier has received this honour out of 195 countries, the statement released by the Prime Minister House said, adding that Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has also invited PM Shehbaz to co-chair the COP-27 meeting. Egypt is hosting COP this year, in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh. This is the first COP in Africa since COP22 was held in Morocco in 2016.
Following the massive devastations caused by catastrophic floods in Pakistan, PM Shehbaz has raised the issue on several international platforms, including the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly and Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
“Humbled by the invitation to co-chair the COP27 roundtable in Egypt next month,” the premier said, appreciating that the world is acknowledging the severity of the climate challenge that threatens to stunt our civilization and development.
“We need to turn this realisation into concrete action to combat climate change,” PM Shehbaz wrote on Twitter.
About 90 heads of state have confirmed attendance at November’s COP27 climate negotiations in Egypt where they will address issues, including energy transition and food security at opening sessions.
Egypt is taking over the presidency of the UN climate talks from Britain and will host the talks from November 6-18 in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
PM Shehbaz is expected to hold bilateral meetings with world leaders, heads of state and heads of international financial institutions.
Topics for leaders’ roundtables to be held on November 7-8 would include the development of green hydrogen, water and food security, achieving a just energy transition towards renewables, and vulnerable communities.
Meanwhile, Climate Change Minister Senator Sherry Rehman on Monday said that the World Bank has estimated a loss of $40 billion to Pakistan’s economy as a result of the damage caused by recent cataclysmic floods. Pakistan has been lashed by unprecedented monsoon rains this year which killed 1,700, devastated two million homes, and put a third of the nation underwater. Taking to Twitter, Senator Rehman said that Pakistan has appealed to the estimated damage to the infrastructure, crops, houses and roads is much higher. She added that the World Bank report suggests that about nine million Pakistanis will be forced into poverty due to the floods.
Speaking about the water-borne diseases being spread in the flood-hit areas of Pakistan, the minister said that the health crisis in the country is now intensifying.
She continued to say that the government has to work on the rehabilitation of the flood affectees and their return to their areas. The PPP leader urged the international community to help the victims during the humanitarian crisis.
Last week, a World Bank report said Pakistan’s poverty rate is expected to rise between 2.5 and 4 percentage points as a direct consequence of the floods.
Loss of jobs, livestock, harvests, houses, and the closure of schools — as well as spread of disease and rising food costs — threaten to put between 5.8 and 9 million in poverty, it said. The World Bank said inflation in the country is set to stand at 23% for the financial year 2023.
