ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Climate Change Zahid Hamid on Friday said he would highlight Pakistan’s case of growing vulnerability to disasters caused by global warming at the global climate conference taking place in Paris from November 30.

Briefing the media on the demands the 27-member Pakistan delegation would put forward at the conference he said he would push rich countries for financial and technical support to cope with various climatic risks.

“Sustainability of Pakistan’s economy is at stake. Climate change-induced disasters, particularly floods and erratic rainfall patterns, have already affected water, agriculture and energy sectors, which are at the heart of the national socio-economic development goals,” he emphasized.

He told the media that the event was significant in terms of international climate policy development process. The conference would determine the global climate regime with far-reaching economic, social, technological and policy implications and opportunities for countries in varying degrees.

The two-week long climate meeting will be attended by delegations of around 195 developed and developing countries.

Climate change minister Zahid Hamid will lead the Pakistani delegation comprising government officials from different federal, provincial government departments, representatives of NGOs, educational institutions and private sector.

He highlighted that Pakistan’s contribution to global emissions was minuscule, roughly 0.8 per cent of global GHG emissions.

“However, Pakistan is frequently exposed to worsening and extreme weather events such as droughts, sea level rise, floods, landslides, recession of glaciers and glacial lake outburst floods (GLOF); and cyclone activity.

“The most recent Global Climate Risk Index issued by German Watch, ranks Pakistan as the 10th most vulnerable country to impacts of climate change. During the last 20 years, average annual economic losses due to climate related events have been estimated at $4 billion,” he added.

Zahid Hamid explained that the case for Pakistan’s exposure to the climate change risks and prevailing opportunities would be compellingly presented at the conference.

“We will portray our future economic progress and development objectives and plans as mentioned in Pakistan Vision 2025 and National Climate Change Policy to elaborate on the country’s growing economy.” he said.

Published in Dawn, November 28th, 2015