Dozens of countries and international institutions have pledged more than $9 billion to help Pakistan recover and rebuild following last year’s devastating floods, which environmentalists and scientists blamed on climate change.
The Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) pledged about half the total -- $4.2 billion over the next three years -- and the Asian Development Bank pledged up to $1 billion over the next three years. The United States said it would provide an additional $100 million, and the European Union announced tens of millions of dollars in new aid for Pakistan.
The announcements came as the United Nations hosted a special conference in Geneva to raise funds and other support to help Pakistan cope with the aftermath of the flooding and adapt to climate change.
Pakistani Deputy Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khan said the final tally came in above a target set for the international community to meet half of the $16 billion that the UN has estimated is needed to respond to the flooding. The rest is expected to come from the Pakistani government itself.
“Taken as a whole, these commitments total more than $9 billion and from what we know so far, these are all additional commitments from what was already given in terms of humanitarian assistance...from both bilateral and multilateral partners," said Khan.
Sharif thanked the international community for the pledges, saying the flooding affected more than 30 million people, made more than 8 million people homeless, and damaged more than 8,000 kilometers of roads.
Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari told the conference, which drew officials from some 40 countries as well as international financial institutions and private donors, that Islamabad saw it as a "long-term partnership."
At least 1,700 people were killed in the immediate aftermath of the floods, which the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described as a "climate disaster of monumental scale."
“We need to be honest about the brutal injustice of loss and damage suffered by developing countries because of climate change," Guterres told the gathering. “If there is any doubt about loss and damage, go to Pakistan. There is loss. There is damage. The devastation of climate change is real.”
Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif and UN chief Guterres attended the one-day gathering in-person. World leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan took part virtually.
Many countries and international organizations already provided funds, supplies, and other support for Pakistan in the immediate follow-up of the floods that first began amid heavy monsoon rains in mid-June.
Macron said France was allocating some $385 million into the French development agency to help Pakistan to rebuild and adapt to climate change. A further $10.7 million will be given for emergency aid, Macron said.
Germany said it will provide $90 million that will be used to finance projects like the construction of rainwater retention basins and drainage systems. Berlin had already pledged about $71.6 million to rebuild infrastructure and deal with the social consequences after the flooding in the South-Asian country.
Speaking at the gathering, Jochen Flasbarth, state secretary in Germany's Economic Cooperation and Development Ministry, said the crisis is one that Pakistan cannot overcome alone.
"It is crucial that we support Pakistan not only in immediate reconstruction, but also in adapting better and sustainably to climate change," he said.
According to Sharif, the flooding immediately affected 33 million people, destroyed more than 2 million homes, and damaged over 8,000 kilometers of roads and 3,100 kilometers of railway track.
The meeting in Geneva was attended by officials from some 40 countries as well as international financial institutions and private donors.