Climate Resilient Pakistan Conference 2023

On Jan. 9 officials from some 40 countries, private donors and international financial institutions gathered at a meeting in Geneva as Islamabad, Pakistan, sought funds to cover half of their $16.3 billion recovery bill.

"Yesterday the world witnessed how nations can come together in a show of solidarity to create a model of win-win partnership to lift suffering humanity out of tragedy," and "Together we will rebuild lives and hope." These quotes from tweets of Sharif Shehbaz, the Pakistani Prime Minister, relay how deeply moved by the compassion shown at the conference he and the whole of Pakistan are, by the generosity given by the donors.

Indeed, unprecedented flooding caused by melting glaciers and record monsoon rains last year affected more than 33 million Pakistanis, killing more than 1,700 people and pushing some nine million others into poverty, reported by the United Nations.

According to the Global Climate Risk Index, Pakistan is responsible for less than 1 percent of global emissions but remains among the top 10 nations vulnerable to climate change.

Co-organizers of the meeting, the United Nations and the government of Pakistan, said more than $10.4 billion has been pledged by bilateral and multilateral partners.

Donors included the Islamic Development Bank ($4.2 billion), the World Bank ($2 billion), Saudi Arabia ($1 billion), the European Union and China, said Pakistan's Information Minister, Marriyum Aurangzeb. France and the United States have also contributed.

In a column for the British newspaper The Guardian on Friday, Sharif said Pakistan "simply cannot do it alone."

At the end of the meeting, Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar stressed that the message from the world was clear: the world will stand by those going through any national calamity.