IMF stresses Pakistan to accelerate efforts to adapt to climate impacts

LAHORE: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has stressed Pakistan to accelerate crucial efforts to better adapt to current and future climate impacts by the government to strengthen its climate resilience.

In its report, the Fund said the country’s National Climate Change Policy recognizes that mitigation and transition management are important elements of their comprehensive climate change policy, but that the more immediate and pressing task is indeed adaptation.

To make tangible progress though, especially in the aftermath of the 2022 floods, the authorities need to follow through more rigorously with the implementation of measures to shore-up the country’s ex-ante resilience to climate change, including by shoring-up critical capacity to help advance critical needs assessments and strategies for particularly vulnerable and exposed sectors (notably agriculture, power, and transport infrastructure).

According to the Fund, the government should adjust the policy framework and mobilizing climate finance, accelerating high-value “no-regret” investments and Improve structural preconditions to tackle the upcoming challenges out of climate change impacts.

In parallel to the NAP work, it said, the authorities should quicken efforts to swiftly and systematically identity, prioritize, and implement “no-regret” measures to shore up much-needed climate resilience.

Given capacity and financing constraints, priority should be given to measures in the social realm (especially higher and well-targeted social protection, health, and education) and infrastructure realm (including—but not limited--to flood protection, water resource and irrigation management, and early warning systems).

Cross-country evidence highlights that investing in preemptive resilient infrastructure—rather than ex-post disaster response—promises to not only contain the significant human and material damages from climate change but also reduce its adverse macroeconomic impacts (including on growth and employment, capital depreciation, and debt.

It said cross-sectoral structural reforms not only address long-standing underlying structural impediments to macroeconomic stability and inclusive growth but will also help boost climate adaption efforts.

The authorities should thus rigorously persevere with their current structural reform agenda, especially with the strengthening of: (i) social spending on education, health, and social protection; (ii) governance, transparency, and anti-corruption institutions; (iii) business and investment climate; (iv) public financial management (PFM) including through the use of the recently launched e-procurement system; (v) financial sector stability; and (vi) energy sector viability.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023