ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf said on Wednesday that the developed nations should lend immediate and judicious financial support to help climate-vulnerable countries like Pakistan to better cope with the impacts of climate change.

“The climate catastrophe in Pakistan is a reminder for the global community to take immediate climate action,’’ he said speaking at a meeting with the Twelve Plus group of the Inter-parliamentary Union (IPU), at Parliament House, Islamabad.

The meeting was organised to seek the support of developed countries for the Assembly’s proposal of a global climate fund through a passage of a resolution in the forthcoming 145th IPU Assembly in Kigali, Rwanda from October 11-15.

Speaker emphasised that the climate catastrophe in Pakistan was so big and unimaginable that no words could do justice to what was being witnessed.

Waves of flood waters swept away men, women, and children, damaged buildings, and roads, bridges, washed away crops and livestock within a few days.

The human eye did not witness such a colossal calamity in the history of Pakistan, he said adding that climate change was an existential threat, particularly to developing nations susceptible to rampant climate change.

“It kept coming back to haunt us in the form of floods, drought, heat waves, glaciers meltdowns and hurricanes. One cannot undo natural actions but can make efforts to limit human-induced destructions,” he said.

Raja Pervaiz Ashraf outlined that in the backdrop of recent climate fallout in the country, the Assembly had proposed an emergency item in the forthcoming IPU Assembly. The proposal urged the international community to maintain its focus beyond the present emergency relief, to sustain the political will to support the medium and long-term rehabilitation, and risk reduction efforts as well as the adaptation plan led by the government of Pakistan at all levels.

It also recommended holding an international conference under the auspices of the United Nations to discuss the modalities of establishing a dedicated fund to address loss and damage associated with climate change in countries affected by the devastations of climatic degradation.

The Speaker impressed upon the diplomats to pass on the message to their respective governments and parliaments for their cooperation and action to deal with impending climate challenges in the developing world.

The meeting was attended by delegates from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Cyprus, Czech Republic, France, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye, Norway, UK and Italy.

Published in Dawn, October 6th, 2022