UNDP, Climate Change Ministry to deepen collaboration to boost climate solutions

• PM’s aide Romina Khurshid lauds UNDP-Pakistan’s financial, technical support for tackling climate risks

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The Deputy Resident Representative for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Pakistan Van Nguyen called on Coordinator to Prime Minister on Climate Change MNA Romina Khurshid Alam in Islamabad on Thursday.

During the meeting, both sides discussed at length the matters related to the climate risk mitigation, climate finance for adaptation and mitigation measures, agriculture insurance, urban flood resilience.

The senior UNDP-Pakistan official Van Nguyen also briefed the PM’s aide about the Global Shield against Climate Risks initiative, saying the new global funding mechanism aims to close protection gaps in climate-vulnerable countries like Pakistan, using pre-arranged finance.

Sharing details of the initiative, she apprised the PM’s aide Romina Khurshid Advisor said further that the Vulnerable Twenty Group (V20) together with the Group of Seven (G7) and other supporting countries launched the Global Shield against Climate Risks initiative to provide and facilitate more and better pre-arranged protection against climate and disaster related risks for vulnerable people in the highly climate risk-prone countries.

“Basically, the Global Shield against Climate Risks initiative is more and better pre-arranged and trigger-based financial resource, which is immediately-available fund in response to disasters, in the most efficient, effective and fastest way for the economy, businesses, and communities in the most climate-vulnerable countries,” UNDP-Pakistan’s Van Nguyen elaborated during the meeting with Romina Khurshid Alam.

More importantly, providing countries with comprehensive support in further understanding the climate risks and impacts and the innovative solutions and support to plug the protection gap and effectively address losses and damages caused and exacerbated by climate change is an over-arching purpose of the initiative, the UNDP-Pakistan’s senior official informed the PM’s aide.

Another key objective of the initiative, she added, is provision of grant-based financial and technical assistance to climate-vulnerable countries like Pakistan so as to develop and implement solutions for financial protection of the vulnerable communities linked with climate change and adaptation efforts.

Meanwhile, the UNDP-Pakistan official also assured the PM’s aide Romina Khurshid Alam of her organisation’s all-out support to access the financial and technical support provided by the initiative to build the country’s climate resilience.

Romina Khurshid thanked and lauded the UNDP – Pakistan for their generous offer for helping Pakistan through the climate change and environmental coordination ministry to build up resilience of the climate-vulnerable sectors, particularly agriculture, urban flood resilience and early warning for disaster risk reduction.

“I would leave no stone unturned to avail any opportunity that help us protection lives and livelihoods of the people and socio-economic sectors particularly agriculture, water, energy, health, education through climate adaptation and mitigation measures,” Romina Khurshid Alam told the UNDP – Pakistan’s senior official Van Nguyen.

Greater financial protection and faster and more reliable disaster preparedness and response provided under the initiative can contribute to effectively responding to the vulnerabilities as well as climate change-related loss and damage in Pakistan, the PM’s aide said.

During the meeting, the PM’s coordinator also noted that over the last decade, the adverse fallouts of climate change have exacerbated alarmingly to an extent that these now pose grave risk to the human survival and ecosystems’ sustainability.

The PM’s aide also highlighted that storms, droughts and floods are continuing to become more frequent and more intense not only in Pakistan but also other countries. These extreme weather events along with slow-onset impacts from climate change pose a growing risk for the sustainable development of all countries, but particularly for the most vulnerable countries and communities.

But, despite climate action and investments in adaptation to climate change, residual risks leading to climate-related losses and damages still persist, resulting in more devastating impacts, PM’s aide Romina Khurshid Alam pointed out.

She emphasised, “When a climate-related disaster strikes, better systems need to be in place, providing immediate finance in the most efficient, effective and fast way for the most vulnerable.”