Upcoming COP-27 ideal platform to raise climate financing, loss & damage issues: Sherry Rehman

Islamabad: Federal Minister for Climate Change Senator Sherry Rehman during her keynote speech at the Institute of Regional Studies on Thursday said the upcoming 27th meeting of the conference of the parties (COP-27) would serve as an ideal platform to raise the issues of climate financing, loss and damage and need for adaptation to changing climatic conditions.

The event was attended by Ambassador of France Nicolas Galey, Ambassador of Arab Republic of Egypt Dr Tarek Dahroug, President Institute of Regional Studies Ambassador Nadeem Riyaz and the Ambassador of Italy Andreas Ferrarese, said a news release.

Talking about the importance of multilateral forums Sherry said: “We need to manage our expectations because COP-27 is a multilateral forum basically run by the interventions of the UNFCCC. They lay out frameworks and create environment for many nations to come together and navigate contentious and very compelling paths towards managing the climate and making the planet livable.

They also find benchmarks for delivering on how that change is to be materialized. There is a misconception in the society that convenings will change everything. They are meant to shift the needle and to create another milestone on the agendas. These milestones bind people in moral frameworks, as there are no legal bindings to all of this.”

Discussing Pakistan’s stance at the COP and as a leader of G77, Minister Rehman said, “Humanity is hurtling towards a 3-degree world which means those nearest to the equator and without resources for better preparedness will continue to be in the frontlines of the climate catastrophes brought on by changes in which we did not contribute.

The super flood we experienced this year was a record-breaking climate event and is a clear manifestation of the accelerated climate change phenomenon. But our message at COP-27 will be loud and clear: What went on in Pakistan will not stay in Pakistan. We are looking at finding the best way, not for ourselves alone, but for all.

As leaders of G77, we will be tabling grievances and demands of the countries most impacted by the climate change events occurring throughout the world. Many Island countries are furious because they are drowning, but not because of their own actions. For them, it’s a matter of survival.”

Minister Rehman further stressed: “The catastrophic flooding has entirely transformed the landscape and lives in the south of the country, that will never recover to its previous state. This was a memo to humanity by the nature.

Water, that is fundamental to our survival, turned into an instrument of terrible disaster, with more than 1,700 people dead and 33 million affected. Right now, we are in dire need of adaptation and resilience capacity building. This is the decisive decade for climate action. ”

Highlighting the importance of public awareness Federal Minister said: “Human habits are very hard to change; all of this, adapting to climate change and resilience will need behavior change. Without public buy-in, policies alone will have no major impact. All our policies should be designed to cater to the people at the bottom of the social pyramid, to rebuild their lives we need to plan around their needs.

They need to have buy-in from the civil society, from young people particularly and especially from people running businesses because without them there’s going to be a lot of shuffling on papers without any visible change on the ground.”