Climate crisis severely threatened nations' capacity to achieve SDGs: PM Shehbaz

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday said that the global climate crisis has severely threatened nations' capacity to achieve sustainable development goals (SDGs).

Given the climatic catastrophes faced by the world, PM Shehbaz said that a "return to business-as-usual is out of question".

"[The] world needs to employ vision and solidarity to transition to a sustainable future of hope. Darkness of disasters should be replaced by the light of opportunity," the premier wrote on Twitter.

PM Shehbaz further stated that the recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction needs of Pakistan over medium to long term were outlined in his address at the Resilient Pakistan conference.

He said that he explained to the world how flood ravages have caused learning, health and infrastructure losses, and alerted the stakeholders of the food insecurity spectre. 

Earlier, in a separate tweet, the prime minister expressed gratitude to the countries and the aid agencies for making Monday's International Conference on Resilient Pakistan in Geneva a "resounding success". 

In a major relief to Pakistan, multilateral and bilateral donors pledged over $10 billion in aid to Pakistan to support the country's flood relief efforts at the Geneva conference on Pakistan’s post-flood challenges. 

“A big thank you to Heads of states and governments, European Union, our development partners and United Nations for making Resilient Pakistan Conference a resounding success,” PM Shehbaz said in a tweet.

He mentioned the active role of United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in highlighting the plight of Pakistan’s flood-hit population. 

“The UN Secretary General has shown stellar leadership all along. People of Pakistan will forever remain grateful,” he wrote.

The premier appreciated the friendly countries and donors' show of compassion and solidarity towards the flood affectees of Pakistan in a humanitarian effort.

"The world witnessed yesterday how the nations can come together in a show of solidarity to create a model of win-win partnership to lift suffering humanity out of tragedy," he said, adding that he was deeply moved by the compassion on display at the Geneva conference. 

The major pledges made at the conference, co-chaired by Pakistan and the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, included $4.2 billion from the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), $2 billion from the World Bank, $1.5 billion from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), $1 billion from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and $1 billion from Saudi Arabia.

PM Shehbaz led the Pakistan delegation at the Geneva moot where he described in detail Pakistan’s Resilient Recovery, Rehabilitation, and Reconstruction Framework (4RF), which laid out a multi-sectoral strategy for rehabilitation and reconstruction in a climate-resilient and inclusive manner.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Minister for Finance Ishaq Dar, Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal, Minister for Climate Change Sherry Rehman and Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb were part of the prime minister’s delegation.