Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Baku discussed setting up an internationally-determined contributions (IDC) framework to redefine the global climate funding mechanisms.
Addressing a roundtable discussion on climate finance on the margins of the World Leaders Climate Action Summit at the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP29) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Baku on Tuesday, Sharif demanded an equitable mechanism to ensure historic emitters contribute fairly, through financial and technical support to developing countries facing the brunt of climate impacts.
He was talking about such important issues when his hometown—Lahore tops the global index as the most polluted city in the world and Swiss group IQAir, which draws data from 14 regional monitoring stations, rated Lahore the world’s most polluted city many times in last 20 days. Lahore is the provincial headquarter of Punjab province and Sharif was Chief Minister of this province from February 1997 to October 1999, June 2008 to February 2009, and March 2009 to March 2013. His son was chief minister of the same province for a brief period while his eldest brother Mian Nawaz Sharif was Chief Minister from April 1985 to August 1990. Now the daughter of Nawaz Sharif has been the Chief Minister of Punjab since February 2024. Since 1985, Punjab has been ruled by the Sharif family often. What happened to Lahore which was historically popular as a city of gardens is known by everybody who lives in Lahore. Massive urbanization, constructing housing societies after cutting trees, converting green lands into grey lands, and allowing unplanned and unchecked growth in Lahore could be some of the milestones of disaster that Lahore is facing today. Even now Ravi Urban Development Authority (RUDA) project spreading across 46 kilometers is in full gear that is the world’s largest riverfront housing project. It is an undeniable fact that Lahore is a victim of the land mafia and urban developers who left no land empty between Indian borders to Gujranwala.
According to the available data from City Traffic Police Lahore, there are a total of about 6.2 million vehicles and 4.2 million motorcycles are present only in Lahore city. You can gauge the sheer number of vehicles in Lahore by comparing the number of 19.6 million vehicles in the entire province of Punjab. Just imagine the heat and emissions these automobiles are producing in Lahore city.
Sharif believes that the commitment to the climate must be accompanied by an equitable mechanism that ensures historic emitters contribute fairly, through financial and technical support to developing countries facing the brunt of climate impacts. Using the same viewpoint, shall developer mafias not contribute to helping Lahore survive as a living city? The IDC proposal seeks to establish a structured mechanism to track and measure the delivery of climate finance commitments to developing nations. Under the IDC, the emitters would be accountable for fulfilling their commitments to mitigation and adaptation. Will people who have ruled Lahore for 4 years be accountable for fulfilling their commitments for mitigating the mess they have left behind in Lahore?
As Shehbaz rightfully told the participants Pakistan is home to 7,000 glaciers that contributed 60 to 70% of water in the Indus River flow. As he understands the value of water and also knows that water resources are shrinking, should his government not stop massive construction over river Ravi and remolding of nullahs (natural hilly and mountainous water channels) in Islamabad and elsewhere areas under the command of his Punjab and central government?
Sharif further said that rising temperatures and the consequences of these changes are glaringly visible and Pakistan is the most affected country. As he understands the situation should not his government immediately announce a ban on converting green lands into grey lands by cutting trees?
He told the gathering that accelerated glacial melt had led to the formation of more than 3,000 glacial lakes in the Northern Areas of Pakistan which are posing a great threat. Among these, he said, about 33 lakes were estimated to be at risk of outburst flooding, putting the lives of over 7 million people in danger. He is right that glacial melt is creating lakes that are a threat to the population downward. However, massive constructions of hotels, motels, and resorts around lakes in northern areas by people from the plains (builders have been allowed to buy huge lands in northern areas in the last 20 years) would definitely add trouble to the situation and would help to raise the temperature of these areas due to every increasing vehicular traffic and population moving from cities of Punjab and KP.
This is a very grave situation and demands urgent action and ‘The Glaciers 2025 Initiative’ provides a unique opportunity; to direct global attention to this crisis and drive coordinated efforts to stem the glacial melt. Will the ‘Glaciers 2025 Initiative’ be implemented in Pakistan as well?
A retired officer who served in Lahore Development Authority (LDA) from a public job in Lahore commented on the situation:
“PM Sharif talked so well and so intelligently and he proved that he knows environmental disasters and the impact of climate change, Sadly, he was sharing his mind in Cop29 Baku when his city (Lahore) was at death bed in Mayo Hospital Lahore. Whenever we (officers) told higher authorities that Lahore would die if we did not change our development policies, our high-ups, particularly ruling politicians not only rejected our research reports rather laughed at us stating that we (urban development experts) are bookish and have no idea that nature changes itself with man-made developments. Alas, we could not tell them that nature does not change but takes revenge when its chest is overloaded with concrete and iron bars”.
