The Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, urged this Saturday the international community to invest in renewable energies to avoid environmental catastrophes such as the one that has experienced Pakistan due to the incessant flooding of recent months.
“From Islamabad I am issuing a global call: stop the madness, invest in renewable energy and end the war with nature,” Guterres said on Twitter on his last day in Pakistan.
Pakistan and other developing countries are paying a horrific price for the intransigence of big emitters that continue to bet on fossil fuels.
From Islamabad, I am issuing a global appeal:
Stop the madness.
Invest in renewable energy now.
End the war with nature. pic.twitter.com/P0jtVikv1r
— Antonio Guterres (@antonioguterres) September 10, 2022
A report of Eph reports on the UN Secretary General’s visit to some of the affected areas in the provinces of Baluchistan, in southwestern Pakistan, and southern Sindh; two of the areas hardest hit by floods since the rainy season began in the country last June.
Guterres stressed that both Pakistan and other developing countries are paying a “horrible price” for the intransigence of the big emitters, who continue to bet on fossil fuels.
“Nature strikes back in Sindh, but Sindh has not produced the emission of greenhouse gases that have exacerbated climate change,” Guterres added during the visit to this province, in which he was accompanied by Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
In this regard, the UN representative urged the international community to understand that Pakistan, including Sindh, needs massive financial support to overcome this catastrophe, in which some 1,400 people have died since mid-June and millions have been affected. .
The Pakistani government put the damage caused by the floods at 10 billion dollars, and has requested, together with the UN, an emergency aid of 160 million to help the victims immediately. “It is not a question of generosity, but a question of justice,” settled Guterres.
Both leaders used the occasion to visit the school children of families that have been affected by the floods in the district of Usta Mohammad, in Balochistan, according to the prime minister’s office in a statement.
Likewise, together with Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, the UN representative visited the ruins of Mohenjo Daro, a city created more than 4,500 years ago by one of the first civilizations in history, and whose infrastructure was damaged by flooding by 70%.
Government of Cuba sends condolences to Pakistan for loss of life after heavy rains
The Government of Pakistan estimates that more than 33 million people, equivalent to 15% of the country’s total population, are in dire straits due to the worst floods the country has experienced in the last three decades.
Some 1,400 people, including half a thousand children, have died since mid-June from the floods; more than 12,000 people have been injured, more than a million houses have been partially or totally destroyed and entire villages have been razed according to the latest data from the authorities.
With information from Eph.
