In what is expected to be a major test case for who pays for climate disasters, Pakistan and the United Nations will hold a crucial meeting in Geneva on Monday to discuss support for Pakistan after it was hit by the devastating flood in 2022.
Reports show the record of monsoon rains and melting glaciers, both of which are blamed on climate change, displaced about 8 million people and killed at least 1,700 others.
Around $16.3 billion is needed to rebuild millions of homes and thousands of kilometres of roads and railways and complete other reconstruction work in the country as most of the waters are beginning to recede and millions of people are projected to become impoverished.
The Pakistani delegation which will be led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will present a recovery “framework” for the country at the conference where United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and French President Emmanuel Macron are also due to speak.
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Guterres has already described the flood situation in Pakistan as climate carnage when he visited the country at the height of the flood in September.
“This is a pivotal moment for the global community to stand with Pakistan and to commit to a resilient and inclusive recovery from these devastating floods,” Knut Ostby, United Nations Development Programme’s Pakistan Representative was quoted to have said ahead of the meeting on Monday.
Pakistan needs additional funding as it continues to grapple with payments for imports such as energy and food and to meet sovereign debt obligations abroad.
Although funding is crucial to Pakistan, it is, however, uncertain where the reconstruction money will come from, especially given the difficulties raising funds for the emergency humanitarian phase of the response which is around half funded, according to U.N. data.
Pakistan was at the forefront of efforts that led to the establishment of a “loss and damage” fund to cover climate-related destruction for countries that have contributed less to global warming than wealthy ones at the UN COP27 meeting in Egypt in November.
But with a $350 billion economy, it is not yet known if Pakistan will be eligible to tap into that future funding.
Organisers say around 250 people are expected at the event including high-level government officials, private donors and international financial institutions.
Pakistan’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Khalil Hashmi, said Islamabad was willing to pay for about half of the bill but hoped for support from donors for the rest.
“We will be mobilising international support through various means. We look forward to working with our partners,” he was quoted to have said.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Sunday said a delegation from the IMF will meet Pakistan’s finance minister on the sidelines of the conference, as Pakistan struggles to restart its bailout programme.
The IMF is yet to approve the release of $1.1 billion originally due to be disbursed in November last year, leaving Pakistan with only enough foreign exchange reserves to cover one month’s imports.
Story was adapted from Reuters.
