UN Climate Change Conference-2023: ‘Concerned’ world community to provide special financial aid to Pakistan: UAE envoy

KARACHI: The concerned world community assembling at the United Nations Climate Change Conference-2023 (COP28) to be held in Dubai this year to provide special financial assistance to Pakistan keeping in view its serious vulnerability due to extreme weather conditions.

The assurance to this effect was given by the Consul General of the UAE, Bakheet Ateeq Al Remaithi while speaking at the conference on “Adapting urban transportation to climate change” organized by the National Forum for Environment and Health (NFEH).

The UAE diplomat said that he had been personally a witness to the massive impact of the phenomenon of climate change on Pakistan during his stay in the country.

He said the heads of state, senior relevant authorities, and environmental experts belonging to various countries soon gathering in Dubai for COP-28 had no option other than taking into account Pakistan’s serious vulnerability due to climate change.

Remaithi said the concerned world community would surely provide a sizable portion of the global budget meant for tackling the climate emergency in Pakistan owing to the massive destruction caused by events like floods, heavy rains, and heat waves. He assured the audience that the UAE rulers would fully support Pakistan’s case in this regard as they had always come to the support of the suffering and underprivileged Pakistani brethren after every disastrous event.

The UAE diplomat said that he had been following up on a daily basis to ensure that the Pakistani government actively took part in the upcoming COP-28 to effectively highlight the country’s climate risk vulnerability before the concerned world community.

“I consider that the deliberations and recommendations of today’s conference are a step forward towards Pakistan gearing up for an active participation in COP-28,” he said.

He suggested that the concerned non-governmental organizations should hold more such conferences to highlight the environmental challenges of Pakistan and their possible solutions.

The CEO of Indus Hospital, Dr Abdul Bari Khan, said that environmental degradation in the last few years had massively affected the physical and mental health of Pakistanis.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023