GENEVA (Reuters) Jan.8 – Pakistan and the United Nations are scheduled to hold a major conference in Geneva on Monday against the disaster.
Record monsoon rains and melting glaciers last September displaced nearly 8 million people and killed at least 1,700 in disasters attributed to climate change.
Most water bodies are now receding, but the rebuilding effort, which has cost about $16.3 billion to rebuild millions of homes and thousands of miles of roads and railroads, has only just begun, and hundreds more. Tens of thousands of people could be lifted out of poverty.
Islamabad, led by a delegation led by Prime Minister Shebaz Sharif, will present a “framework” for reconstruction at a conference also attended by UN Secretary-General António Guterres and French President Emmanuel Macron.
Guterres, who visited Pakistan in September, previously described the country’s destruction as “climate carnage.” Knut Ostby, United Nations Development Program Pakistan Representative, said: “This is a pivotal moment for the international community to stand by Pakistan and engage in a resilient and inclusive recovery from these devastating floods.
However, it is not at all clear where the funding for reconstruction will come from, especially given the difficulty in financing the emergency humanitarian phase of the response, which the United Nations says is about half the funding.
At his COP27 meeting in Egypt in November, Pakistan announced the establishment of a “loss and damage” fund to cover climate-related damages to countries that contribute less to global warming than wealthier countries.
However, it remains to be seen whether Pakistan, with its US$350 billion economy, will be eligible to take advantage of this future financing.
About 250 people, including government officials, private donors and international financial institutions, will attend the event, according to organizers. Pakistan’s Ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Khalil Hashmi, said Islamabad was ready to contribute about half of the bill, but expected the rest to come from donors, adding: “International support through various means. to mobilize,” he said. “We look forward to working with our partners.”
A delegation from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will meet with Pakistan’s finance minister on the sidelines of the meeting, a spokesman for the lender said on Sunday.
The IMF has yet to approve his $1.1 billion disbursement originally scheduled last November, leaving Pakistan with only enough foreign exchange reserves to cover his imports for a month.
