PESHAWAR:WWF-Pakistan’s Director General, Hammad Naqi Khan has reiterated the need for adoption of the Pakistan Climate Crises Charter drafted in the wake of the 2022 floods in Pakistan.
According to a press release issued here on Tuesday, he said this while addressing the media during the 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 27), currently being held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.
“Pakistan has faced two significant climate induced extreme weather events this year alone in the shape of the prolonged heatwave and the torrential rains that flooded much of Balochistan and Sindh,” Hammad added.
The Charter has been developed in consultation with government and non-government stakeholders including the Ministry of Climate Change, the Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives, NDRMF, IUCN Pakistan, Population Council, ZiZAK Pvt Ltd, SDPI, PET, Pakistan Academy of Sciences, Hissar Foundation, IWMI, Global Water Partnership, and Pakistan Council for Research in Water Resources, he continued.
The Government of Pakistan is rightfully seeking loss and damage financing for the devastation that has been caused to the country in wake of the recent super floods, Hammad continued.
At the same time, we must also try to fill in the governance gaps and begin to prepare our actors; including federal, provincial and local governments, disaster management agencies, non-profit and non-government entities. This Charter is essentially a step in that direction to consolidate the efforts and resources of all the stakeholders.”
The Charter begins by highlighting the loss and damage that is affecting Pakistan and highlights the need to continuously work with vulnerable countries in order to meaningfully address the issue of climate finance.
The Charter also calls for a nation-wide risk management and vulnerability assessment that could then strengthen the local land use plans and zoning regulations.
It emphasizes the development of a functional local government system to facilitate climate adaptation initiatives.
The Charter is cognizant of the role different stakeholders, especially local communities, play in preparing for, and responding to, such disasters. As such it calls for an integrated approach in terms of risk perception and risk management with particular focus on nature-based solutions.
Pakistan has been vociferously calling for the issue of loss and damage to be taken up during climate negotiations. As the Chair of the G77 plus China, it played an instrumental role in getting the issue on the agenda for COP 27 at Sharm el Sheikh.