This is apropos a Business Recorder editorial “Pandemic fund” carried by the newspaper yesterday. The newspaper has concluded its argument by stating that “To put it bluntly, rich countries that were asleep at the wheel as the world tumbled into the Covid pandemic need to cough up a lot more than just $ 1.4 billion to mitigate its lingering effects, and they need to do it soon.” I couldn’t agree more.

The amount allocated for the pandemic fund is less than modest; it should have been far greater than $ 1.4 billion. It is important to highlight the fact that the Indonesian President had said that at least $ 31 billion was required to tackle next global pandemic.

The allocation of just $ 1.4 billion strongly reflects rich countries’ approach to the challenge, which is unfortunately characterised by both ambivalence and reluctance.

The then President of the US, Donald Trump, for example, had intentionally slowed or deprioritized climate action. He had, in fact, relaxed regulations for climate polluters. To conclude, I would like to say when it comes to climate action the rich nations talk the talk but don’t walk the walk.

Fahim Raza (Karachi)

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022