ISLAMABAD:A recent study titled “Climate Financing for WASH Pakistan Scoping Brief” launched on Thursday highlighted the need for stakeholder engagement in Pakistan with a dedicated knowledge hub for fetching climate finance on WASH.
The Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) and International Rescue Committee (IRC) jointly organised a panel discussion and report launch on Climate Finance for WASH brief – Pakistan.
The report was jointly launched by Member Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Idris Mehsud and IRC Country Director Shabnam Baloch.
In her opening remarks, IRC Country Director Shabnam Baloch said Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) should be organised as an integral part of every national adaptation plan and approach intending to ensure disaster resilience of the country.
While underlining the recommendations of the study, she said the donors should also consider providing resources to local civil society organisations (CSOs) lacking resources. The local level training should be focused on approaching climate financing resources whereas accreditation to the green climate financing institutions should be made easier, accessible and further rolled out in countries like Pakistan, she added.
The opening remarks were followed by technical session based on presentation Head Sustainability and Resilience Program, SDPI, Dr Shafqat Munir said the study on climate financing for WASH was done through the cooperation of Water for Women, Australian Aid, IRC which was part of a broader work conducted across six countries and funded by Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), Australia through Water for Women Fund window and lead by University of Technology Sydney (UTS).
Dr Munir added climate finance for WASH was one of the key areas in the climate issues of Pakistan. “The study provides brief introduction to climate finance available for WASH and recommends measures for CSOs. It’s a brief overview of the situation not a full-fledged study which has been showcased at COP-27.”
He said the challenges were huge due to proposal complexities and procedural matters whereas interviews of MoCC officials, CSOs and analyses of data revealed only 22% of the total funds were allocated for WASH sector.
Dr Shafqat Munir noted that there were top three barriers to CSOs accessing climate finance ranging from lack of wash specific funds, stringent donor requirements, and a caveat of proposals must be comprehensive and detailed.
He ended that the CSOs should improve their own capacity to meet requirements of technical proposal to get funding as the country fetched only peanuts in the name of climate finances whereas its losses and damages were of $30 billion in floods alone.
During the panel discussion, Country Director, WaterAid Arif Jabbar said there was also issue of absorption capacity in terms of finances for WASH which was an impediment to access climate finances.
The green climate finance should take WASH as a priority agenda. “One diarrhea episode can take away billions of funding in flood rehabilitation or mitigation measures.”
He highlighted that there was no coordination among key partners as there was need to develop a collective evidence on WASH and climate change impacts in the region.
He proposed that in order to come out of donor mindset there were many other private sector green financing facilities by bringing impact investment, entrepreneurship and private sector in this sector.
WASH Expert, Niazullah Khan said there was no focal authority or institution on WASH as there was need of a unified authority and legislation to coordinate with provinces on WASH. He said water security was a major issue but water management was more critical.
Consultant World Bank, Dr Ali Tauqeer Sheikh said despite much uproar Pakistan had no adaptation plan whereas the country lacked accreditation for green climate fund and it could not directly approach funding. “The public departments in the country never tried to understand green climate funding because it has become competitive. We have outsourced thinking and not managed to get more than $5 million from REDD+,” Sheikh added that there was need to revisit the development paradigm to make it poor centric.
Scientific Model and Data Manager / Regional Climate Scientist, Climate Analytics, Dr Fahad Saeed said climate change was a developmental challenge of 21st century which was interconnected and complex. He said there was need to connect with universities and think tanks on this issue whereas it was the ministries and public departments needed to identify go-getters but it was other way around in the country. “We are at a vulnerable position in terms of meteorology and will have to live with this new climate normal.”
Member DRR, NDMA Idris Mehsud said there was lack of any collection on researches and studies on DRR or climate change to be presented on high level forums. He added that joint cooperation and initiative was the key to success in this regard, adding, “There is no credible risk knowledge yet and NDMA has asked development partners to assist it establish one. Moreover, we need to clearly set our WASH needs in terms of approaching climate finances. There is lack of information on green climate funding among local departments.” He added that it was needed to invest more in risk reduction than risk response whereas the country could not always depend on donors and had to create its own risk financing facilities.