Pakistan risks 'extraordinary misery' without flood recovery help: UN

Pakistan risks 'extraordinary misery' without flood recovery help: UN

Pakistan is still reeling from the unprecedented monsoon floods
Pakistan is still reeling from the unprecedented monsoon floods. Photo: Asif HASSAN / AFP
Source: AFP

PAY ATTENTION: Never miss breaking news – join Briefly News' Telegram channel!

The international community must help Pakistan recover from last year's devastating floods and boost climate resilience, or the country will be locked in misery, the head of the UN development agency told AFP.

Pakistan is still reeling from the unprecedented monsoon floods unleashed last August which killed more than 1,700 people and affected some 33 million others.

To meet the acute needs, the country and the United Nations will on Monday co-host an international conference in Geneva seeking billions of dollars in donor pledges and other support towards a long-term recovery and resilience plan.

"The sheer destruction of these floods, the human suffering, the economic cost... turns these floods truly into a cataclysmic event," said United Nations Development Programme administrator Achim Steiner, whose agency is helping organise the conference.

In an interview ahead of the event, he said the situation remained dire months after the monsoon rains ended.

Read also

Lula puts diverse new face on Brazil government

Needs 'massive'

"The waters may have receded, but the impacts are still there," Steiner said.

PAY ATTENTION: Click “See First” under the “Following” tab to see Briefly News on your News Feed!

"There is a massive reconstruction and rehabilitation effort that needs to be undertaken."

Millions of people remain displaced, and those who have be able to go back 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 had doubled to 14.6 million, according to UN figures.

Achim Steiner's agency is helping organise the conference
Achim Steiner's agency is helping organise the conference. Photo: Aref KARIMI / AFP/File
Source: AFP

The World Bank has estimated that up to nine million more people could be dragged into poverty as a result of the flooding.

Monday's one-day conference, which will open with speeches by Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, aims to secure commitments of support towards the country's $16-billion recovery and reconstruction plan.

Read also

Pakistan imports threatened as forex reserves hit eight-year low

Pakistan's government aims to cover half that amount with "domestic resources", including through public-private partnerships, but is looking to the international community to cover the rest.

Steiner insisted the international community had a moral duty to help Pakistan recover from a catastrophe clearly amplified by climate change.

The country is responsible for less than one percent of global greenhouse gas emissions but is one of the most vulnerable nations to extreme weather caused by global warming.

'Victim'

Pakistan "is essentially a victim of a world that is not acting fast enough on the challenge of climate change", Steiner said.

The enormous shocks Pakistan is facing, he said, "require the international community to step up in partnership".

Otherwise, the country will face "an extraordinary amount of misery and suffering" in the long term, he warned.

Pakistan "will essentially remain locked into a situation where it cannot recover, and for years, maybe for decades will lag behind... its potential".

Read also

'More the merrier': Asia tourist hubs ready for China influx

As the world reels from multiple overlapping crises, from the Covid pandemic to the war in Ukraine and resulting food and energy price hikes, the $8 billion Pakistan is seeking might sound like a big ask.

But Steiner said the figure likely "underestimates not only the cost of what is needed, but also the potential of international support".

He pointed out that the short-lived but dramatic and deadly floods around Ahr in Germany in 2021 ultimately cost around 33 billion euros ($35 billion).

By comparison, Pakistan saw large swaths of its territory flooded for months, with the water yet to recede in some areas in the south, leaving an unfathomable trail of destruction.

"No country in the world could really recover from this without the solidarity and support of others," Steiner said.

Helping a climate-vulnerable country like Pakistan to rebuild in a more resilient fashion is the only way to limit the damage as global warming worsens, he said.

Read also

Asian markets rally on 2023 outlook hopes, oil prices bounce

"I think the world has begun to realise that climate change has arrived," he said.

"We will have to not only rethink the way our economies are run, but also how we deal with the catastrophic and almost unprecedented scale of these impacts in the years to come."

PAY ATTENTION: Сheck out news that is picked exactly for YOU ➡️ find the “Recommended for you” block on the home page and enjoy!

Source: AFP

Authors:
AFP avatar

AFP AFP text, photo, graphic, audio or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium. AFP news material may not be stored in whole or in part in a computer or otherwise except for personal and non-commercial use. AFP will not be held liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions in any AFP news material or in transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages whatsoever. As a newswire service, AFP does not obtain releases from subjects, individuals, groups or entities contained in its photographs, videos, graphics or quoted in its texts. Further, no clearance is obtained from the owners of any trademarks or copyrighted materials whose marks and materials are included in AFP material. Therefore you will be solely responsible for obtaining any and all necessary releases from whatever individuals and/or entities necessary for any uses of AFP material.