United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said developing countries were paying a “horrible price” for the world’s fossil fuel dependency as he toured parts of Pakistan hit by flooding that has been blamed on climate change.
Nearly 1,400 people have died in floods that covered a third of the country – an area the size of the UK – that destroyed crops and destroyed homes, shops, roads and bridges.
Guterres hopes his visit will bolster support for Pakistan, which needs at least $10 billion to repair damaged infrastructure.
“Pakistan and other developing countries are paying a terrible price for the intransigence of the big emitters who continue to bet on fossil fuels,” Guterres said in a tweet just before setting out to tour some of the flood-hit areas.
“From Islamabad I am sending out a worldwide appeal: Stop the madness. Invest in renewable energy now. End the war with nature.”
Pakistan receives heavy – often destructive – rains during its annual monsoon season, which are vital to agriculture and water supplies.
But there hasn’t been such heavy downpours as this year for decades.
– ‘Madness and Suicide’ –
On Friday, Guterres lamented the lack of attention the world is paying to climate change – particularly the developed world, which scientists blame for it.
“This is madness, this is collective suicide,” he said.
Pakistan is responsible for less than one percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, but ranks eighth on a list of countries most vulnerable to extreme weather conditions caused by climate change, compiled by the NGO Germanwatch.
Guterres is touring the flood-affected parts of the south on Saturday and will also visit Mohenjo-daro, a centuries-old UNESCO World Heritage site threatened by flooding.
Around 33 million people have been affected by the floods, which have destroyed around two million homes and businesses, washed away 7,000 kilometers of roads and brought down 500 bridges.
The effect of the torrential rain was twofold – destructive torrents in rivers in the mountainous north and a slow accumulation of water in the southern plains.
“If he comes and sees us, Allah will bless him,” Rozina Solangi, a 30-year-old housewife from a flooded village near Sukkur, told AFP on Friday.
“All the children, men and women are roasting in this scorching heat. We have nothing to eat, we have no roof over our heads. So he must do something for us poor people.”
The Meteorological Office says that in 2022 Pakistan has received five times more rain than usual. Padidan, a small town in Sindh province, has been soaked by more than 1.8 meters (71 inches) since the June monsoon began.
Thousands of temporary campsites have mushroomed on arid strips of land to the south and west – often roads and railroad tracks are the only ground in a landscape of water.
With people and livestock crammed together, the camps are ripe for outbreaks of disease, with many reported cases of mosquito-borne dengue and scabies.
