Kakar urges global support for developing countries to combat climate change
Pakistan
Kakar urges global support for developing countries to combat climate change
UNITED NATIONS (APP) - Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar has urged the world to extend financial and technical support to developing countries, such as Pakistan, to help them achieve ambitions in the realm of climate change.
The prime minister, while addressing the Climate Ambition Summit 2023 on the sidelines of the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) here the other day, urged all nations to raise their climate ambitions regardless of their statuses and geographical locations.
Kakar told the international community that the adverse impact of climate change kept rising in frequency and intensity disproportionately affecting the developing countries of the world.
“Pakistan is a prime example. Despite contributing less than one per cent to global warming, we are among the top-ten vulnerable countries. The unprecedented floods of 2022 illustrated this vulnerability, but these may just be the tip of the iceberg unless we arrest it,” he remarked.
The prime minister thanked UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for solidarity and mobilisation of global support after the floods. Due to its “well-established” climate vulnerability, the adaptation was a “critical” priority for Pakistan, he added.
Kakar said Pakistan adopted the first-ever National Adaptation Plan to build climate resilience that would follow the projection and casting of interventions identified in the said plan. He said the plan’s second phase would mark the preparation for the sector-specific investment framework to serve as a blueprint to translate and identify the adaptation needs into tangible and bankable projects.
PM Kakar also highlighted Pakistan’s “Living Indus Initiative” aimed at restoring the ecological health of the Indus basin, saying that Pakistan took significant steps to enhance the early warning capacity as well as the flood protection plan.
He said despite its no contribution to global warming, Pakistan chose to be part of the solution by deciding to convert 60 per cent of its energy resources to alternative energy by 2030 which would cost around $100 billion to the country.
The prime minister, while citing Quranic verses, told the world leaders that Islam promoted responsibility to protect the environment and utilise natural resources efficiently and undertake an equitable approach to the nature.
Urging the global community to come up with climate actions and support to the developing countries, Kakar said, “This will be a litmus test of solidarity and perhaps for the survival of our species on our injured planet.”
