UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has called on the international community to promptly deliver pledged funds to assist flood-affected families in Pakistan.
Addressing an informal General Assembly gathering on Wednesday, the UN leader warned that Pakistan is facing a dual challenge of tackling the effects of climate change while dealing with what he called an outdated and unjust global financial system that hurts middle-income countries seeking resources to adapt.
Flooding in 2022 killed more than 1,700 people, destroyed more than 2 million homes and caused damage worth more than $30 billion, according to the UN.
Nearly a third of the country was under water after “apocalyptic flooding”.
“While much of the water has receded, the needs have not,” Mr Guterres said.
His remarks come months after the UN and Pakistan co-hosted a special conference in Geneva aimed at gathering funds for reconstruction.
Dozens of countries and international institutions pledged more than $9 billion in January to help Pakistan recover and rebuild after the floods, which environmentalists and scientists blamed on climate change.
Pakistan required $16.3 billion but only 69 per cent of the amount has been secured.
“Billions were pledged but the vast majority was in loans," Mr Guterres said. "Pakistan is still waiting for much of the funding, and delays are undermining people’s efforts to rebuild their lives."
Pakistan plays a negligible role in global warming and emits less than one per cent of greenhouse gases, he said.
Mr Guterres warned that climate chaos is “knocking on everyone’s door” and is beating those doors down, from Libya to the Horn of Africa, China, Canada and beyond.
“Pakistan is a chronicle of climate chaos foretold,” he said.
Dennis Francis, President of the General Assembly, said the disaster was a “stark reminder of the catastrophic consequences of unchecked climate change”.
“Climate change is entrenching inequalities, within and among nations, with vulnerable populations being systematically hit first and hardest," Mr Francis said.
"In Pakistan, a full year later, millions of children still require humanitarian aid and access to basic services."
Australia tour of Pakistan
March 4-8: First Test, Rawalpindi
March 12-16: Second Test, Karachi
March 21-25: Third Test, Lahore
March 29: First ODI, Rawalpindi
March 31: Second ODI, Rawalpindi
April 2: Third ODI, Rawalpindi
April 5: T20I, Rawalpindi
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
The five pillars of Islam
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On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
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How to get exposure to gold
Although you can buy gold easily on the Dubai markets, the problem with buying physical bars, coins or jewellery is that you then have storage, security and insurance issues.
A far easier option is to invest in a low-cost exchange traded fund (ETF) that invests in the precious metal instead, for example, ETFS Physical Gold (PHAU) and iShares Physical Gold (SGLN) both track physical gold. The VanEck Vectors Gold Miners ETF invests directly in mining companies.
Alternatively, BlackRock Gold & General seeks to achieve long-term capital growth primarily through an actively managed portfolio of gold mining, commodity and precious-metal related shares. Its largest portfolio holdings include gold miners Newcrest Mining, Barrick Gold Corp, Agnico Eagle Mines and the NewMont Goldcorp.
Brave investors could take on the added risk of buying individual gold mining stocks, many of which have performed wonderfully well lately.
London-listed Centamin is up more than 70 per cent in just three months, although in a sign of its volatility, it is down 5 per cent on two years ago. Trans-Siberian Gold, listed on London's alternative investment market (AIM) for small stocks, has seen its share price almost quadruple from 34p to 124p over the same period, but do not assume this kind of runaway growth can continue for long
However, buying individual equities like these is highly risky, as their share prices can crash just as quickly, which isn't what what you want from a supposedly safe haven.
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- Artists and researchers fall under a programme called Pause that began in 2017
- It has benefited more than 700 people from 44 countries, including Syria, Turkey, Iran, and Sudan
- Since the start of the Gaza war, it has also included 45 Gazan beneficiaries
- Unlike students, they are allowed to bring their families to France
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Score
Third Test, Day 2
New Zealand 274
Pakistan 139-3 (61 ov)
Pakistan trail by 135 runs with 7 wickets remaining in the innings
