Pakistan was yesterday set to ask for billions in international support for its recovery from the aftermath of last year’s devastating floods and to help it better resist climate change.
To meet its huge needs, Pakistan and the UN were cohosting an international conference in Geneva, Switzerland, to urge countries, organizations and businesses to step up with financial and other support for a long-term recovery and resilience plan.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres were to launch the one-day event, which was also to feature speeches by heads of state and government.
Photo: AP
French President Emmanuel Macron, his Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen were also to address the conference via video link.
According to Pakistan’s Resilient Recovery, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Framework, which it was planning to officially present at Monday’s conference, US$16.3 billion would be needed in all.
Pakistan’s government aims to cover half that amount with “domestic resources,” including its development budget and through public-private partnerships, but it is looking to the international community to cover the remainder, with the hope that yesterday’s conference would generate significant pledges of support.
About 450 participants from about 40 countries have registered for the event, including representatives of the World Bank and several multilateral development banks.
“The waters may have receded, but the impacts are still there,” UN Development Programme Administrator Achim Steiner said ahead of the conference, describing the floods as “a cataclysmic event.”
“There is a massive reconstruction and rehabilitation effort that needs to be undertaken,” he said.
The flooding, which killed more than 1,700 people and affected about 33 million others, still has not receded in some southern parts of the country.
Millions of people remain displaced, and those who have been able to go home are often returning to damaged or destroyed homes and mud-covered fields that cannot be planted.
Food prices have soared, and the number of people facing food insecurity has doubled to 14.6 million, UN figures showed.
The World Bank has estimated that up to 9 million more people could be dragged into poverty as a result of the flooding.
Pakistan and the UN have said that the event would be broader than a traditional pledging conference, as it aims to set up a long-term international partnership focused on recovery, but also on boosting Pakistan’s climate resilience.
Pakistan, with the world’s fifth-largest population, is responsible for less than 1 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, but is one of the most vulnerable nations to extreme weather caused by global warming.
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