Flood-ravaged Pakistan to seek $16B at next week’s conference
With the United Nations at its side, Pakistan is expected to seek $16.3 billion in aid from the international community for millions of climate-induced flood victims next week in Geneva, officials said in Islamabad on Thursday.
Monday's conference, jointly hosted by the world body and Pakistan, is aimed at raising recovery funds after last summer's unprecedented floods that killed 1,739 people and affected 33 million Pakistanis.
At one point, a third of the country's territory was under water. Experts said the disaster was partly caused by climate change. The UN in Pakistan has said current international aid will run out on January 15.
Pakistan's Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, said the daylong conference will be based on a Un-supported assessment that indicates Pakistan suffered more than $30 billion in damage.
She described the document as one of strategy and priorities that will “guide the recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction after the recent devastating floods”.
The latest development comes a day after UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric announced that UN Secretary-general Antonio Guterres will take part in Monday's conference. He told reporters that Guterres “will call for support to strengthen the resilience of the communities in Pakistan for the future”.
Later, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Guterres will hold a press conference, he said.
The summit titled “International Conference on Climate Resilient Pakistan”, is taking place weeks after UN officials warned that the funding raised so far for Pakistan's flood victims will run out this month. The world body, they said, had so far received only a third of the $816 million in emergency aid it sought last October for food, medicines and other supplies.
In his remarks at the conference, Prime Minister Sharif will outline Pakistan's vision for rehabilitation and reconstruction in a climate-resilient manner.
In a press briefing in Islamabad on Thursday Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said that at the aid conference, Pakistan would present the Resilient, Recovery, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Framework (4RF) to guide as a strategic policy and prioritisation document.
“The 4RF is a strategic policy and prioritisation document of the Government of Pakistan that will guide the recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction after the recent devastating floods in a climate-resilient manner. It draws from the findings of the Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) and presents sequenced priorities across sectors around four strategic objectives,” the spokesperson said.
Pakistani officials say the nation has had a negligible role in global warming but is still vulnerable to climate-induced devastation. Pakistan emits less than 1 per cent of heat-trapping carbon dioxide, according to officials. — ap, app
UN Secretary-general Antonio Guterres will take part in Monday’s conference and will call for support to strengthen the resilience of the communities in Pakistan for the future.”
Stephane Dujarric
UN spokesman