Pakistan is suffering the most from global warming – this is what the climate conference brings to the country. Caring for family members: ‘Coincidentally I found out that I was entitled to a salary of 3,000 euros per month’

“I have never seen so much water in my entire life. So much rain. And I am over 50 years old.” This is what Pakistani Arjumand Nizami says. She is country director of the Swiss aid organization Helvetas in Pakistan and is talking about the summer of 2022. As a result of exceptionally heavy and persistent monsoon rains, floods killed 1,700 people and 800,000 animals were killed. Two million homes were destroyed.

A third of Pakistan was temporarily flooded. And because this water remained stagnant for months in many areas, diseases such as malaria, dengue fever, diarrhea and cholera spread. This has cost even more people their lives.

33 million Pakistanis were affected by the environmental disaster. That is 3.7 times the total population of Switzerland.

Today, over a year later, the majority of those affected are still suffering, as Nizami explains. Many farming families were forced to migrate to the cities. “And those who stayed still struggle with hunger and disease.” They tried to re-cultivate their fields. But because droughts and floods alternate, much of their crop yields continue to fail.

Moreover, with every rain shower the fear of a new catastrophe returns. “Unfortunately, one thing is certain: this will not be the last flood disaster Pakistan will experience. It wasn’t our first either.” In 2010, the world’s worst floods claimed more than 1,700 lives in Pakistan. This is no coincidence.

A bleak future

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Pakistan is one of the countries in the world most affected by climate change. However, global warming is felt differently in the huge country with its heterogeneous landscape. “The glaciers in the Himalayan mountains in the north are melting rapidly. In the lowlands, rising temperatures in turn lead to higher amounts of precipitation,” says Nizami. At the same time, drought periods are becoming more severe in summer. This year there were temperatures above 50 degrees and a lack of water in many parts of the country.

The people of Pakistan live between extremes. Extremes for which they are not responsible, but especially the twenty leading industrialized and emerging countries, the G20. According to the latest report from the European Commission’s emissions database, China, the US, India, the EU, Russia and Brazil were together responsible for 61.6 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions in 2022. In 2022, Switzerland, together with Liechtenstein, responsible for 0.08 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, while Pakistan was responsible for 13 times more emissions (1.02%). However, almost 27 times more people live in Pakistan than in Switzerland.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres spoke of a “climate massacre” after the 2022 flood disaster. Many NGOs demanded reparations to Pakistan from the G20 countries.

Money actually flowed from the international community. Numerous aid organizations immediately provided humanitarian aid after the floods. UN countries supported the Pakistani government with billions of US dollars. Switzerland also made 2.8 million francs available for emergency aid, a small part of which went to Helvetas.

Helvetas also provided the first emergency aid with donations and subsequently continued various projects. “The resources and donations from the international community were necessary and we welcome them. But Pakistanis actually need support before such an environmental disaster occurs,” Nizami said. Pakistan’s infrastructure is unprepared for the masses of water that will increasingly plow through the country as a result of climate change.

“We would need ships and stable canals so that we can store the fresh water we need in periods of drought.” If glacial and rainwater were to continuously flow unhindered and uncontrolled into the sea, as is now the case, not only would lives and livelihoods be continuously destroyed, but sea levels would also rise. “And that causes problems in other places in the world.”

The fear of liability for climate damage

Investments are therefore needed not only to combat climate change, but also to protect affected regions from damage caused by climate change. Namely from the states that are most responsible for this initial situation.

But ‘reparations’, no state wants to use that word. There is too much fear that this could be legally seen as an admission of guilt. Hold yourself accountable. This is probably why the fund that managed to close the UN Climate Conference (COP28) in the first days in Dubai bears the awkward name ‘Global Protective Umbrella against Climate Risks’.

The purpose of the fund: Industrialized countries voluntarily pay money that benefits developing countries in the Global South affected by climate damage. The money must not only be invested in reconstruction, for example after a flood, but must also flow into projects that protect the country and its people against future climate damage.

A board consisting of representatives of industrialized and developing countries decides which country will receive money and when. The climate conference in Dubai last week was able to reach agreement on this organizational structure. COP28 President Sultan Ahmed Al-Jaber celebrated this with the following words:

Several countries then pledged their first payments to the fund: $100 million from the United Arab Emirates, $75 million from Britain, $25 million from the US, $10 million from Japan.

However, activists and scientists criticize the lack of accountability of the payments and the fact that industrialized countries continue to deny responsibility for climate change. Moreover, the promised money would not be nearly enough.

According to a study by the German aid organization Oxfam, developing countries will suffer losses and damages worth $290 billion to $580 billion by 2030 due to climate change.

The initial contributions to the fund are relatively small – like a band-aid where a dam is needed.

The Pakistani government also has a duty

Despite all the criticism, Arjumand Nizami of Helvetas is happy with the final COP28 fund. “It’s certainly a start.” Pakistan would also be one of the states that could benefit from this. “My only concern is that it will be extremely time-consuming and complicated for local organizations and projects to apply for money from the fund.” This is already the case with other funds that the COP has launched in the past, such as the ‘Green Climate Fund’.

Nizami therefore places more hope on the “Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems and Climate Protection”, which 130 countries signed during COP28. “For the first time, countries are committing to supporting their farmers in adapting to climate change and promoting practices that reduce greenhouse gas emissions.” This is an important step.

Because your own state must also take action and take responsibility. It is not possible to blame only the industrialized countries for everything. “Pakistan has a lot of potential in the field of organic agriculture.” The country’s economy depends on agriculture, especially rice, wheat and cotton cultivation.

However, the Agricultural Declaration does not yet contain any measurable objectives. Nizami is therefore curious how COP28 on December 10 will answer detailed questions and formulate the first milestones. Ultimately, hope dies last.