Pakistan's climate minister sees extreme weather and flooding as an existential threat to her country, and the planet as a whole — demands reparations.
Rich countries must pay for climate breakdown affecting Pakistan. https://t.co/uufhy4lXu1
— Ryan Maue (@RyanMaue) September 5, 2022
Rich nations owe reparations to countries facing climate disaster, says Pakistan minister
Rich polluting countries which are predominantly to blame for the “dystopian” climate breakdown have broken their promises to reduce emissions and help developing countries adapt to global heating, according to Pakistan’s minister for climate change, who said reparations were long overdue. …
“Global warming is the existential crisis facing the world and Pakistan is ground zero – yet we have contributed less than 1% to [greenhouse gas] emissions. We all know that the pledges made in multilateral forums have not been fulfilled,” said Rehman, 61, a former journalist, senator and diplomat who previously served as Pakistan’s ambassador to the US.
“There is so much loss and damage with so little reparations to countries that contributed so little to the world’s carbon footprint that obviously the bargain made between the global north and global south is not working. We need to be pressing very hard for a reset of the targets because climate change is accelerating much faster than predicted, on the ground, that is very clear.”
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“I wince when I hear people say these are natural disasters. This is very much the age of the anthropocene: these are man-made disasters.”
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“As you can see, global warming hasn’t gone down – quite the opposite. And there is only so much adaptation we can do. The melting of glaciers, the floods, drought, forest fires, none will stop without very serious pledges being honored,” said Rahman.
“We are on the frontline and intend to keep loss and damage and adapting to climate catastrophes at the core of our arguments and negotiations. There will be no moving away from that.”
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Rehman, who was named minister for climate change in April amid a political and economic crisis that saw the ousting of the prime minister, Imran Khan, has said the government was doing everything possible but rescue and aid missions had been hampered by ongoing rain and the sheer scale of need.
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“Historic injustices have to be heard and there must be some level of climate equation so that the brunt of the irresponsible carbon consumption is not being laid on nations near the equator which are obviously unable to create resilient infrastructure on their own,” she said.
