Now, it aims to use the money to implement its Resilient Recovery, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Framework, dubbed 4RF, a recovery strategy that builds long-term climate resilience and adaptation.
This will mean boosting flood protection to prevent a recurrence of loss of life, livelihoods and infrastructure, and government officials say prompt action is vital as climate change impacts accelerate.
The country’s climate change minister, Sherry Rehman, told the World Economic Forum in Davos: “Developing countries like Pakistan face a rapid onset of climate change before we can rehabilitate. What if this summer brings fresh horrors?” Is it? Last month.
previous lesson
In 21 major floods between 1950 and 2011 – roughly one flood every three years – Pakistan suffered about $19 billion in damages, according to an Asian Development Bank (ADB) study on devastating floods in 2010, with an estimated $10 billion. Damage done.
The United Nations development agency said on January 5, just before the Geneva conference, that an additional nine million people are at risk of being pushed into poverty, out of the 33 million people affected by floods last year.
This time, lessons must be learned, said political economy and human rights academic Amir Ali Chandio, who recently retired from Sindh’s Shah Abdul Latif University, Khairpur.
Like many other experts, he says that poor management of floodwaters at a time of rapid development and population growth has resulted in loss of life and property over the years.
Mustafa Mirani, president of the Fisherfolk Forum civil society group, said, “The natural waterways have been encroached upon. People have built their houses on the waterways. Roads without bridges have also blocked the waterway.”
Ajay Kumar, an official with the Sindh Provincial Disaster Management Authority, said uncontrolled construction in flood-prone areas is a serious factor, but added that heavy rains last year had done “the real damage”.
Rural development consultant and agricultural education extension specialist Muhammad Ismail Kumbhar said that apart from immediate damage repair, the flood response must be holistic and far-reaching if it is to succeed in building climate resilience.
“We need a climate action plan, a climate youth policy, climate-smart agriculture and livestock. People should know how to be resilient to climate change,” he said. Introduced an insurance policy for crops and livestock Must go.”
He called for mapping of high-risk areas and opening of natural waterways. In areas near coasts or river banks, or in other flood-prone places, houses should be built on higher platforms, and farm land should be rehabilitated.
The ADB report recommends strengthening flood forecasting and early warning systems and linking flood management to any efforts to build large reservoirs to deal with the recent water and energy crisis.
transparency
Presenting the 4RF plan in Geneva, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the government would use “every penny” of the pledges to benefit flood-affected people, while touting the success of emergency measures including the distribution of cash grants to 2.7 million families .
The strategy details plans for thorough third-party auditing and mechanisms to ensure transparency and well-targeted spending.
After the Geneva meeting, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said that about 90% of the commitment for recovery would be initiated in the form of project loans over the next three years. The rest is support.
Malik Amin Aslam, a former aide to Pakistan’s prime minister for climate change, said ensuring the money is spent on the right projects is crucial to the long-term success of the plan.
“The efficacy of this funding will depend on how transparently these funds are used to ensure that they are maximized for climate-friendly development,” Aslam said over the phone.
Praising the plan, he said that a major portion of the funds should be allocated for immediate and immediate relief for the lakhs of people affected by the calamity.
Ahmed Rafe Alam, an environmental lawyer, said implementing the government’s strategy to develop “climate-resilient, sustainable and adaptive infrastructure” would only be possible if local officials were on the same page.
“For this to work, we need to enable local governments as well,” he said, noting that the $9 billion given by donors is far less than the World Bank’s $30 billion loss and damage estimate .
resilience
People like 25-year-old Azija, a mother of six children living in a small village in Dadu district, are most in need of immediate relief.
She said floodwaters destroyed the home she and her husband had built after selling their buffalo, leaving them to salvage whatever they could from the rubble.
Now, the whole family has shelter in a one-room thatched hut built on an islet surrounded by stagnant water. There isn’t even a toilet, and Aziza and her husband barely earn enough to buy food – let alone building materials.
When their neighbor Allah Wadhaya’s wife went into labor, they had to travel 20 km (12 mi) by boat in flood waters from their village to Johi town.
Roads are no longer under water, said Wadhaya, a brick labourer, but life is far from normal.
Standing next to the ruins, he said, “There is still not much labor for us as the flood waters are still standing in the villages and fields. The relief packs we have received are not enough and the little gold I have Yes, I sold it.” From his mud-brick house.
In many places, international aid organizations and local NGOs are supporting climate-resilient home retrofitting.
In Pahlwan Khan Khosa village in Sindh’s Jamshoro district, a project funded by the International Labor Organization paid for villagers to rebuild their flood-ravaged homes.
Hands Pakistan, a non-profit, has helped people rebuild nearly 90,000 flood-resistant houses since 2012, training masons and providing technical support.
Anees Danish, Chief Service Executive at Hands, showing models of specially designed houses and bricks at his office in Karachi, says, “Because of the tapered roofs, 80% of the houses we helped people build (2022) are flood-resistant.” Saved.”
“Now we have to religiously go for flexibility,” he said. “We need to break the cycle of destruction.”