The flood-affected people of Pakistan may not have appeared on newspaper front pages, magazine covers, or social media timelines, but their plight is still very much present. Pakistan’s rehabilitation efforts require $16 billion. In addition, while it is making adjustments to its budget to compensate for the loss and damage caused by the floods in 2022, it requires assistance in the amount of $8 billion from the international community. In this regard, today’s International Conference on Climate-Resilient Pakistan in Geneva is jointly hosted by the UN and the Pakistani government.
Despite the fact that it has been nearly six months since Pakistan was devastated by the floods, many areas of the country are still in ruins, requiring victims to rebuild their homes in any way they can. Since October, the United Nations has received $816 million in emergency aid, and there are concerns that these funds will soon run out.
Additionally, officials from Pakistan are uncertain about the conference’s ability to raise funds. Additionally, the nation’s non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and other welfare organizations, which typically alleviate some of the state’s responsibilities, have failed to raise sufficient funds. During the PTI’s telethon, some of the pledged donations were never delivered to the nation. There are still approximately eight million homeless people, according to recent estimates. The floods have also damaged road connections, preventing aid workers from reaching the affected areas and keeping them isolated. The ongoing harsh winter necessitates an increase in relief efforts once more.
The ideal outcome of the conference would be a comprehensive long-term rehabilitation plan with a strategy, solid commitments, and timetables. Pakistan is dependent on agriculture, so it is critical that these immediate plans include a complete dewatering mechanism for all areas and regions that are still underwater. Farmers are unable to perform any new agricultural activities on their lands without this dewatering.
The already vulnerable individuals may face additional financial difficulties as a result of any further delay in rehabilitation. Second, restoring the infrastructure is just as important. Schools and healthcare facilities that were washed away by the floods need a lot of money to be fixed. Due to the harsh reality that floods of this kind will soon become the new normal, the new buildings constructed in this manner ought to be resilient and durable enough to withstand them in the future.
In the coming years, climate shocks are likely to become the new normal, and Pakistan’s overall resilience will be of utmost importance. There can be no more delays at this point, so support for the international community must accelerate. COP27 demonstrated rich countries’ unwillingness to assist developing countries in paying for the damage caused by climate change. It must not be viewed as a case of charity by donor nations.
Pakistan is paying the price for the unchecked, environmentally hazardous activities of the developed world, as its carbon emissions are less than one percent. Second, Pakistan is an essential component of the global supply chain, and any disruptions in this component will have a devastating impact on the economies of other nations. There is a strong expectation that the conference will be able to establish a mechanism for the implementation of the 4R framework, which stands for resilient recovery, rehabilitation, and reconstruction. This is because the 4R framework is a road map that requires commitments over the long term.
