Pakistan’s PM tells EU chief unity is essential to combating climate change effects

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met with European Union Commissioner Ursula von der Leyen on the sidelines of COP27 on Monday where he discussed the effects of climate change on developing countries.

Pakistan is already feeling the brunt of climate change having recently experienced torrential monsoon rains that triggered the most severe flooding in the country’s recent history.

Floods washed away villages, destroyed or damaged hundreds of thousands of homes as well as public health facilities and water systems.

Unicef said last week that the floods also left almost 10 million children in need of immediate, lifesaving support, and at increased risk of waterborne diseases, drowning and malnutrition.

In his discussion with von der Leyen, Sharif noted the EU’s assistance to flood victims and said that Pakistan and the European Union were important partners in achieving common goals.

According to a statement issued by his office, Sharif said: “Unity is essential to combat the effects of climate change.”

He also said that the effects of climate change that developing countries were facing today, the whole world would have to suffer tomorrow.

Afghanistan meanwhile has also been forced to deal with climate shocks, and is ranked as sixth most affected in the world.

Rains in Afghanistan have decreased by 40% in the country, and the World Food Programme classifies both rainfall-related drought and snowmelt-related drought as current threats – to both Afghanistan and Pakistan.

On Monday, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) and the UN in Afghanistan both called for urgent collective action to stop the destructive impact of climate change in the country.

The IEA said in a statement that it considers the holding of the 27th Climate Change Summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt as the first step towards finding a solution to the current climate challenges in the world.

“Since the effects of climate change do not recognize political borders, its solutions should be independent of political considerations, and countries like Afghanistan, which have not had any negative contribution to climate change, but are struggling with its negative effects, should not be ignored,” the statement read.

The IEA also stated that this year alone, Afghanistan has suffered losses worth more than $2 billion due to the negative effects of climate change.

“In addition to compensating for this loss, reducing other possible losses and increasing the resistance of threatened communities to restore economic stability in the country, development assistance from the international community is necessary in the light of our national priorities.”

The UN in Afghanistan also issued a statement and pointed out that the country is already prone to frequent natural disasters.

The UN stated that these existing threats coupled with Afghans’ high dependence on agricultural livelihoods, Afghanistan’s fragile ecosystem, acute environmental degradation, poor socio-economic development and the impact of more than four decades of war have laid the foundation for extreme climate vulnerability.