Speaking at the United Nations-hosted International Conference on Climate Resilient Pakistan, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan underlined that Türkiye was contributing its share to the global struggle against the impact of climate change. He said the Pakistan floods demonstrated the fallout from the worldwide phenomenon and vowed Türkiye would continue aid to the country.
"It's clear that the destructive effects of the climate crisis demand more collective efforts. Climate change and the problems it causes are common problems of humanity," Erdoğan said in a video message to the special International Climate Conference hosted by the U.N. and Pakistan in Geneva.
Referring to devastating floods that swept through a third of Pakistan last year, leaving 1,700 dead, Erdoğan said this disaster "once again revealed the devastating effects of climate change."
"The fight against this disaster and others like it must be conducted in solidarity within the framework of a strategy," he said.
Climate-resilient reconstruction in disaster-prone areas and flood-affected areas in Pakistan will avert new suffering, he added. Expressing Ankara's readiness to help in reconstruction by meeting the urgent needs of disaster victims in Pakistan, the president said: "The Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) and our nongovernmental organizations also show all necessary sensitivity in the delivery of humanitarian aid."
Türkiye has supported Pakistan in the past, as well as in these difficult times, and will continue to do so, he underlined. "We have dispatched 7,500 tons of humanitarian aid materials on 15 flights and 13 trains." He also noted that Türkiye has sent two ships carrying more than 1,630 tons of humanitarian aid, expressing hope that "once those ships reach the ports, the suffering of our Pakistani brothers and sisters will be mitigated to a certain degree." Erdoğan once again conveyed his best wishes to the Pakistanis, condolences to the families of victims and a speedy recovery to those injured in the floods.
At the same conference, U.N. chief Antonio Guterres called for "massive investments" to help Pakistan recover from last year's devastating floods and better resist climate change, as financial pledges poured in. "No country deserves to endure what happened to Pakistan," Guterres told an international conference in Geneva, which is seeking billions of dollars to support recovery from the disaster.
Guterres opened the one-day event appealing to the world to help Pakistan bounce back from floods that submerged a third of the country, killing more than 1,700 people and affecting more than 33 million others.
Pakistan's Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif told the conference that his country was "racing against time" to deal with towering needs. "This is the greatest climate disaster in our country's history," agreed Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, decrying a "colossal calamity."
According to Pakistan's so-called Resilient Recovery, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Framework, which it was scheduled to officially present during Monday's conference, it will need $16.3 billion over the next three years. Pakistan's government has said the country should be able to cover half the cost but is urging the international community to fund the rest.
"I am asking for a sustained international support plan. I am asking for a new lifeline," Sharif said.
Countries appeared to heed that call, with hundreds of millions of dollars promised even before the pledging part of the conference had begun. Speaking via video link, French President Emmanuel Macron told the conference that his country would contribute 360 million euros ($384 million). He also said France was prepared to join an international support group being created to help Pakistan implement its plan, and said it would also provide an additional 10 million euros in emergency aid. European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said the European Union was contributing 500 million euros toward Pakistan's reconstruction, as she announced a fresh injection of 10 million euros in humanitarian assistance.
Months after the rains stopped, the situation in Pakistan remains dire. Eight million people were displaced, millions of acres of agricultural land were ruined and around 2 million homes were destroyed, while 9 million more people were pushed to the brink of poverty.
Guterres said Pakistan and its people responded to "this epic tragedy with heroic humanity." "We must match the heroic response of the people of Pakistan with our own efforts and massive investments to strengthen their communities for the future," he told the conference.
The U.N. chief said the international community had a particular responsibility to help Pakistan, which has been "doubly victimized by climate chaos and a morally bankrupt global financial system." With representatives of the World Bank and a range of multilateral development banks listening on, he slammed a system that "routinely denies middle-income countries the debt relief and concessional financing needed to invest in resilience against natural disasters." Monday's event is broader than a traditional pledging conference, as it seeks to set up a long-term international partnership focused not only on recovery but also on boosting Pakistan's climate resilience.
Pakistan, with the world's fifth-largest population, is responsible for less than 1% of global greenhouse gas emissions but is one of the nations most vulnerable to extreme weather caused by global warming. Guterres said Pakistan's "monsoon on steroids" proved the need for the agreement reached at the U.N. climate summit in November to create a "loss and damage" fund, which is aimed at covering the climate-related destruction endured by developing nations less responsible for global warming than wealthy polluters. "If there is any doubt about loss and damage, go to Pakistan," he said. "There is loss. There is damage."
The Islamic Development Bank has pledged $4.2 billion over the next three years to Pakistan as aid for its climate rebuilding effort, the bank's president said while a senior official from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) said that Washington would provide an additional $100 million in funding for Pakistan's recovery from devastating floods last year.
