WASHINGTON: Chicago Tribune, a leading newspaper of the United States, has impressed upon the need for the international community to urgently help Pakistan recover from huge devastation caused by the recent flood.
After meeting of the editorial board with Masood Khan, Pak Ambassador to the United States, the newspaper asserts that given the losses expected to top $10 billion, the international community needed to commit much more for Pakistan, and the U.S. and China should position themselves at the vanguard of this effort.
“Just as urgent, however, is a long-term commitment from the U.S., China and other economic powerhouses to combat climate change — not with political pronouncements, but with action”, the editorial added.
Masood Khan told the editorial board that 33 million Pakistanis have been affected by the floods. The square mileage submerged is equivalent to Colorado’s territory. He said that the disaster was a direct consequence of climate change.
Pak Ambassador emphasized that there needs to be collaboration and a deeper understanding between the developed and developing countries — the ones most affected and the ones that are the biggest emitters.”
“We should try to find solutions which would protect and remedy and save the planet from annihilation”, Masood Khan said.
Commenting on the scale of devastation, the editorial observed that no nation deserved such a brutal manifestation of nature’s might. “But there’s another, profoundly frustrating reason why Pakistan in particular doesn’t deserve this fate. Pakistan is one of the world’s most vulnerable nations to the devastating impact of climate change. And yet, it emits less than 1% of the planet’s greenhouse gases, making it one of the smallest contributors to global warming.”
Discussing the impact of climate change, the editorial highlighted findings of the report by U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on how climate change was influencing mankind, its planet and our future. “One of the report’s most startling findings: It’s the developing world that’s bearing the brunt of climate change’s harshest fallout — between 2010 and 2020, 15 times as many people in developing countries were killed by droughts, floods and storms than in the world’s wealthiest nations.”
Recalling outcome of Glasgow climate conference in 2021, the editorial added that “Too often, global pacts are hailed as milestones in international cooperation — and then ignored when it comes time for implementation.
“With climate change, the world’s nations, particularly its wealthiest countries, cannot risk putting off acting on long-term solutions for the sake of short-term needs. Fighting climate change has become an immediate, urgent need.