World urged to ‘do more’ for protecting earth from climate change

Islamabad : While the global warming-hit world is fast heating up, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Climate Change called upon the global community to ‘do more’ on the global climate action to protect the world community from unfolding deleterious impacts of climate change.

The world, he stressed, needs to get off the warpath with nature, which would only exacerbate disasters.

“The world has to do more, and fast-track efforts to confront the climate change,” the Prime Minister Imran Khan’s aide stressed while addressing the virtual US-led Leaders Summit on Climate hosted by the US government in Washington on Wednesday.

The US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris inaugurated the event in Washington.

The United States last week invited Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam to be a distinguished speaker at the virtual Leaders Summit on Climate being hosted by the US President Joe Biden.

The US president had invited 41 world leaders including from Pakistan, India, China and Bangladesh, to the summit.

The Leaders Summit on Climate aims to underscore the urgency – and the economic benefits – of stronger climate action. It will be a key milestone on the road to the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) this November in Glasgow.

Addressing the Leaders Summit Malik Amin Aslam said that the earth’s temperature continues to rise, with 2020 being one of the three warmest years on record, as extreme weather events combine with the COVID-19 pandemic, impacting millions in many ways.

He appreciated the US government for convening the Climate Summit at a time when the world is passing through a critical time in the climate negotiation processes to deal with the climate emergency.

“It is a high time the world shows seriousness by delivering real climate action on the ground and not put talks.” Malik Amin Aslam stressed during his address.

The PM’s aide Malik Amin Aslam highlighted that Pakistan is striving to be a part of the solution, through nature based initiatives, and is committed to not add to the problem of climate change

“Given the backdrop, the Prime Minister Imran Khan is leading Pakistan away from a coal future towards a clean energy future but we need access to best available technologies and associated finance,” he said.

“However, the world needs to “do more” by showing real climate action and delivering climate finance, Malik Amin Aslam demanded during his address

He suggested three types of climate finances to be delivered that include committed finance of $100 billion per year, adaptation finance for impacted countries like Pakistan and transition finance for helping countries shift to clean energy.

Without a clear delivery on climate finance there will be no deal at Glasgow COP, the PM’s aide Malik Amin cautioned.

He stressed that Pakistan believes in a cooperative, collaborative and inclusive climate negotiations process.

Highlighting the country’s vulnerability case, he told the participants from 41 countries that Pakistan accounts for less than one percent of the total heat-trapping global carbon emissions, yet it is ranked amongst the most climate-vulnerable countries and continuously smacked by the climate change-caused disasters.

Elaborating about adverse impacts on Pakistan, Malik Amin Aslam said the glaciers in the country’s north are melting fast and arid regions are heating up so intensely that many of the areas are fast becoming uninhabitable. On the other hand, the coastal areas in the country’s south are badly affected due to sea-level rise and frequent and intense cyclonic activities.

In recent years, the country has faced frequenting and intensifying bouts of heat waves, particularly in urban areas resulting in ever-growing mortality and hospitalization of thousands of the people, he added.

The PM’s aide told the US-led world climate summit that Pakistan’s huge population of bare 220 million is at risk of myriad effects of climate crisis, a gruesome situation that places the country at the forefront of the climate crisis.