UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan, speaking on behalf of the “Group of 77” developing countries and China, has called for “urgent action” to reverse global damage to the planet, saying healthy environment was essential to people’s health, safety and livelihoods
“A degraded planet poses severe limits to our well-being and prosperity as well as for our future,” Ambassador Aamir Khan, deputy permanent representative of Pakistan to the UN, told the Preparatory Committee for “Stockholm+50, the international environmental conference scheduled for June 2 to 3, 2022 in Stockholm, Sweden.
“If we continue on the same path and do not take urgent actions, we could face limits to how much we can adapt to the changing environment,” he said in a debate on, ‘A Healthy Planet for the Prosperity for All – Our Responsibility, Our Opportunity’
Pakistan is the current chairman of G-77 and China, which now has 134 members and is the United Nations’ biggest intergovernmental group of emerging countries.
Citing the “rapidly closing window” to reverse that current trend, he underlined the centrality of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Paris Agreement on climate change and related multilateral agreements, which are based on the principle of the common but differentiated responsibility of states.
The agreement reached between states at the recent United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, known as COP26, “must be the baseline for climate action”, he added, stressing that basic commitments for climate finance from developed countries have not yet been met.
“Enhanced commitments for annual climate finance from the floor of $100 billion goal must be achieved in the new collective quantified goal on climate finance by 2024,” Aamir Khan said, while calling for adequate and predictable financing instead of innovative accounting.
More parity is needed to ensure a balance between climate mitigation and adaptation, and funding in those crucial areas must not become an additional financial burden or a source of more debt for developing countries, the Pakistani envoy said.
He also called for the simplification of access to existing climate finance mechanisms, such as the Green Climate Fund.
The Pakistan envoy also stressed the need for an equitable multilateral trading system to facilitate access to safe, diverse and nutritious food.
“The Group looks forward to Stockholm+50 this year and hopes that the meeting will be able to raise awareness on the importance of protecting our planet and achieving sustainable development for the well-being of this and future generations,” Aamir Khan added.