Sherry describes climate moot as vital platform to showcase country’s response

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Climate Change Senator Sherry Rehman said on Tuesday that the International Conference on Climate Resilient Pakistan” was an important platform to showcase the country’s response to monsoon floods despite limited resources and overstretched administrative machinery.

Sherry along with Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal, in a background briefing to media on “International Conference on Climate Resilient Pakistan” to be held on January 09 in Geneva and status update on Pakistan’s efforts on resilient, recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction framework (4RF), said that the international moot would be co-chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and United Nations Secretary General in Geneva, where Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari would deliver welcome remarks followed by the opening remarks of the prime minister.

She said that Finance Minister Ishaq Dar would present the 3-5 years rehabilitation plan and the Ministry of Climate Change would deliver its statement at a plenary.

She highlighted that the provinces were invited to attend the conference for the first time as their role was critical in Climate Resilient Pakistan.

A separate high-level plenary was dedicated for the provinces to present their development projects and engagement with the donors, she added.

She while appreciating the Planning Ministry’s Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) report said the ministry took the lead in preparing the challenging document, whereas, all the ministries supported it in the process.

“It is not business as usual for Pakistan because it is still affected due to floods. Out of the total 33 million affected population, 20 million are still impacted and 50 per cent of them comprise children, women, and elderly,” she warned.

Sherry said that one district of Sindh and two of Balochistan were still affected. “There have been huge lakes created in Sindh’s flood-hit areas, where heavy machinery has been deployed but floodwater is still present which will take months to evacuate,” she added.

She warned that as per 70 percent climate models the natural catastrophes triggered by global warming would occur again.

The size of the affected population was three times the population mass of Switzerland and three medium size European countries as it was the century’s record-breaking floods, she added.

She said that connectivity and communication infrastructure was rehabilitated on a priority basis in the flood-hit areas, whereas, the reconstruction efforts were slow in Balochistan.

She ended that building back better meant financial resources would remain stretched and rebuilding would take months as adaptation was difficult amid overstretched financial and technical resources.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023