Pakistan's premier warns melting glaciers could accelerate flooding

ISLAMABAD

Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday warned that melting glaciers could accelerate flooding and urged the developed countries to meet their climate financial commitments without any delay.

Speaking at the International High-Level Conference on Glaciers’ Preservation (ICGP) in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, Sharif said that his country is home to over 30,000 glaciers.

"Pakistan is one of the most vulnerable countries to any climatic changes that impact glaciers," he said.

He added that climate change has no borders; the world needs to enhance global climate action to mitigate the negative impacts of climate change.

Pakistan is one of the most affected countries by climate change even though the country’s contribution to the total world emissions is less than 1%, he said.

"I pray to Allah Almighty that other countries do not face this kind of devastation, which we faced back in 2022," the Pakistani premier said.

Massive floods inundated a third of the country in 2022, killing 1,700 people and causing a whopping $30 billion in economic losses to its already struggling economy.

A Geneva conference in January 2023 saw pledges worth around $10 billion from multilateral financial institutions and countries in the aftermath of the worst floods, but most of the money pledged has not yet reached people on the ground.

The country received $2.8 billion from international creditors against the total pledges by June 2024.