ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Climate Change Sherry Rehman on Thursday briefed the United States Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry over telephone about the hazardous impacts of climate change being faced by Pakistan.

Mr Kerry expressed the desire to continue working together for tackling climate change issues, says a press release.

The minister underscored that Pakistan was consistently placed in the top 10 ‘most vulnerable’ countries impacted by climate change which had now become an “existential threat” to the country.

Ms Rehman said the country was lurching from unprecedented heat waves to critical glacial melt, drought one month and flooding in another.

While high climate ambition commitments were important, Pakistan was facing down the costs of global warming at 9.1 per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP), which was the highest in the region as identified by a recent UN report.

“The time to intervene is now as water scarcity by 2025 is also a looming crisis, if current trajectories continue,” she was quoted to have told Mr Kerry.

Ms Rehman appreciated the Biden administration’s commitments to global climate goals and thanked Senator Kerry for his strong personal leadership of these most defining challenges for the 21st century.

Published in Dawn, July 8th, 2022