The UN Climate Conference

The much-awaited UN Climate Conference COP27 is finally underway in Egypt as nearly 200 world leaders have come together to work on curtailing the threat of climate change. The event is vital for the world as this may be the last opportunity that humanity has to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5°C. Further increase will cause insurmountable destruction across the globe and perhaps even the extinction of the human race. For Pakistan, this might prove to be a defining moment.

The conference has come right after the severe floods that ravaged one-third of Pakistan, damaged infrastructure and agricultural lands, affected 33 million people and caused losses worth $30 billion — millions lost their houses, families and livelihoods in the process. In order to recuperate from this horrific tragedy, Pakistan urgently needs compensation in the form of funds and debt relief from the global community. The rebuilding phase has already been hampered due to escalating public debt; and with winter around the corner, millions of people living in deplorable conditions are at grave risk. This is where COP27 will be prove vital, in amplifying the voices in Pakistan and reaffirming the very real threat that climate change poses on the developing world. The joint presser by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and PM Shehbaz Sharif indicates that the world may finally be willing to listen.

One hopes that the reparation agenda will be discussed sincerely under the newly accepted theme of ‘loss and damage’ as tough questions will need to be asked, such as who pays and who gets paid. But it is yet to be seen if rich countries will follow through or resist such calls since the issue has been stalled for years. Previous conferences have been unsuccessful at finding common ground and wealthy nations have failed at their promise of delivering $100 billion in climate finance annually. Proposals have been made for what a possible funding strategy should look like as rich countries will try to dictate it on their own terms. But Pakistan must seek the backing of other vulnerable countries and try to drive their agenda forward aggressively.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 9^th, 2022.

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