ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's Climate Change Minister Sherry Rehman on Sunday said UN climate negotiators at the COP27 summit in Egypt had a spirit of unity and collaboration, but there was a lack of action hindering the way to a climate-resilient future, warning that there was no "planet B" where the humans could migrate.
Pakistan is playing a high-profile role at the COP27 summit this year, serving as one of two co-chairs invited by conference host Egypt, with the other being Norway.
Pakistan also represents the G77 umbrella group of developing countries, pushing for a doubling in finance to help poor nations adapt to climate impacts.
The South Asian country witnessed the worst floods this monsoon, which killed more than 1,700 people, affected 33 million and cost over $30 billion in damages.
“Let us pay attention to what we are doing to each other and this planet,” Pakistan's state-run APP news agency quoted Rehman as saying at a session of the COP27 Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) on Sunday.
"And there’s no other option for us and no ‘planet B’ where we can migrate."
Pakistan was key to getting the thorny issue of "loss and damage" onto the official U.N. summit agenda - a diplomatic coup after decades of resistance from rich nations. The move opened the door for talks to address vulnerable countries' demand to be compensated when hit by climate-fueled disasters.
To date, only about a third of climate finance delivered has gone toward adaptation projects, and the full sum promised - $100 billion per year - has never been paid in full. Last year saw just over $80 billion transferred.
Rehman said the COP system was built on "common but differentiated responsibilities."
“We have come here in the hope that some path forward from intentions to action, from ambitions to process, and delivery on ground will be precipitated here,” she said.
The World Bank has estimated that Pakistan will need some $348 billion climate finance to keep “its head above water” till 2050 from whooping climate shocks faced by the country every year, according to the minister.
She said the Pakistani government still had to resettle flood-affected people, feed and clothe them: “All our money has been diverted to cater half of the 33 million population impacted due to unprecedented torrential rain floods during this predating winter.”
"When one ecosystem starts dying and it’s the law of nature that it spreads to others," Rehman warned in her address.
"And what is happening in Pakistan will not stay in Pakistan."
