‘Climate justice’ PM demands rich nations pay up

Shehbaz Sharif, the prime minister, has said Pakistan should not be forced to go out with a begging bowl” to rich polluting nations after the floods that have devastated the country and said he would be seeking climate justice” from the international community.

- Hannah Ellis-Petersen and Shah Meer Baloch LAHORE

Sharifwarned that Pakistan faces an unprecedented crisis of health, food security and internal displacement after apocalyptic” monsoons put a third of Pakistan’s regions under water. Some areas were hit by 1.7 metres of rainfall, the highest on record. 

Scientists have determined that the floods were due to climate breakdown. But with Pakistan responsible for 0.8% of global carbon emissions, Sharif said it was the responsibility of the developed countries, who caused these emissions, to stand by us”.

“I ve never seen this kind of devastation, inundation and suffering of our people in my lifetime,” said Sharif, speaking from his home in Lahore. Millions have been displaced, they have become climate refugees within their own country,”

While the international community has given billions in funds and commitments for further support, Sharif was clear it was not enough”. The enormity of this climate-induced catastrophe is beyond our fiscal means,” he said. The gap between our needs and what is available is too wide and it is widening by the day.”

The official death toll from the floods is 1,600, though estimates on the ground have been higher. More than 9 million people have been displaced and over 2m homes destroyed, and millions of families have been forced to live in makeshift tents or shelters on roadsides.