Won’t Take ‘Begging Bowl’: Pakistan Demands Richer Nations Pay for Climate Change-Induced Flooding

Islamabad reached out to other countries, requesting hundreds of millions of dollars in aid in the wake of catastrophic floods that hit the nation in July-August. One-third of the country has been covered in water, with the floods claiming the lives of at least 1,700 people and displacing 33 million.

Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif hit out at rich polluting nations in a recent interview, in the wake of the devastation his country is facing after the floods which Islamabad estimates have caused as much as $30-$35 billion in economic loss.

Sharif placed the blame for the floods on climate change, vowing to seek climate justice for Pakistan from developed nations. According to scientists, climate breakdown is the reason behind the recent floods in Pakistan, as well as the ongoing drought in Kenya.

Climate justice is a new concept that claims that climate change and extreme weather reactions are the consequence of historical carbon emissions by the world's wealthiest countries. As such, rich countries must pay for damages incurred in poor or developing nations as they lack the resources to cope with the threat.

“Let me be clear, this is about climate justice,” Sharif told the Guardian. “We are not blaming anybody, we’re not casting allegations, what we are saying is this is not of our making but we have become a victim. Should I be asked to cast my appeal into a begging bowl? That is double jeopardy. That’s unjust, unfair.”

Sharif also questioned developed countries’ pledge in the 2009 Copenhagen Summit to raise $100 billion for vulnerable countries hit by severe climate-linked disasters.

“The enormity of this climate-induced catastrophe is beyond our fiscal means,” Sharif warned. “The gap between our needs and what is available is too wide and it is widening by the day.”

Climate justice is quite a new concept which says that climate change and extreme weather reactions are the consequence of historic carbon emissions by the world's richest countries. Hence, the rich countries must pay to the poor or developing nations as they lack the resources to cope new climate threat.

Meanwhile, the United Nations revised its humanitarian aid to the flood-stuck nation from $160 million to $816 million last week, as water-borne diseases continue to spread across Pakistan, while the risk of nationwide hunger looms.