PM Kakar calls Indus Basin ‘key’ to adapt Pakistan to climate change

DUBAI: Caretaker Prime Minister (PM) Anwaarul Haq Kakar on Sunday said adapting Pakistan to climate change was vital to adapt the Indus Basin to the impacts of climate as majority of the population was linked with the river.

The prime minister made these remarks while addressing an event on “Living Indus Initiative” at the Pakistan Pavilion held on the sidelines of United Nations’ 28th Conference of Parties (COP 28).

“Pakistan’s climate challenge was primarily a water challenge which needed immediate actions to be addressed,” PM Kakar said, noting that Pakistan was the 8th most vulnerable country in the world to the impacts of climate change.

He said Living Indus was as an umbrella initiative aimed at restoring the ecological health of the Indus within the boundaries of Pakistan, which was most vulnerable to climate change.

He maintained that the government of Pakistan was clear on its priorities with Living Indus. “This umbrella initiative emerge from extensive consultation with stakeholders, resulting in a set of 25 living interventions that emphasize nature based solutions and ecosystem based adaptation approaches.”

The prime minister said more important was that the Living Indus initiative sought to mobilize a moment that prepared and restored a healthy Indus for today and tomorrows.

“And we are here to collaborate and give voice to our rivers. The Indus river needs a voice and we are here to be give that voice. The Indus feeds us and if we do not take care of it, it will not be there to take care of us,” he remarked.

This initiative, he said suggested that “we need a minimum indicative investment between US$11 to 17 billion over the next 15 years to mobilize from the public sector, private sector, citizens and communities”.

He said Pakistan launched “Recharge Pakistan” that was the first concrete step towards the Living Indus. “This flagship project with an international climate finance of nearly $78 million is central to our efforts in reducing future flooding and drought impacts,” he added.

The Recharge Pakistan project under the Living Indus framework will not only benefit millions of our citizens but also serve as a model for climate innovation on a global scale.

PM Kakar on the occasion also called upon various stakeholders including scholars, architectures, poets, literary people to contribute towards the global efforts of addressing the climate change issue by raising voice in their articles, sermons, addresses and poetry.

PM Kakar is leading the Pakistani delegation in the high-level segment and will attend the World Climate Action Summit on Dec 1 and 2.

Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani, Finance Minister Dr Shamshad Akhtar, Federal Minister for Climate Change Ahmed Irfan Aslam and Energy Minister Muhammad Ali are also participating in COP28.