ISLAMABAD: Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, speaker of the National Assembly, said that global climate change is acting as a real threat to human security and effective measures should be taken to cope with it.
Addressing a two-day seminar jointly organised by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the National Assembly, Ashraf said legislators of various parliaments in the world should play their part in the effective mitigation of the climate crisis.
Titled the “Third Inter-Parliamentary Union Regional Seminar on Achieving Sustainable Development Goals for Parliaments of Asia-Pacific” here at the Parliament House, the seminar aimed to improve coordination amongst Asia-Pacific countries for devising ways and means of achieving sustainable prosperity.
Speaking at the event with local parliamentarians and foreign delegates in attendance, Ashraf said Pakistan is facing severe effects of climate change despite its negligible contributions to global warming.
“Pakistan is ranked eighth amongst the countries most vulnerable to climate change despite contributing less than one percent to global emissions, and the recent flood in Pakistan caused irreparable loss of precious lives and destruction to basic infrastructure including roads, houses, schools, and basic health units,” he added.
He said the country is making its best efforts to rescue and rehabilitate the affected people, but the world should also play its role in supporting Pakistan in the hour of need.
Speaking at the event, President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Duarte Pacheco urged the international community, especially the developed countries, to help Pakistan recover from the catastrophe of the floods.
He said it is important for the developed world to show solidarity with the people and families of Pakistan who suffered due to the catastrophic flood and support the country to meet financial needs during the process of rescue, relief, and rebuilding in the flood-hit areas.
