Prime Minister Imran Khan has reacted to not being invited to the Climate Conference organized by the US President Joe Biden administration on Saturday.
PM Imran Khan took to Twitter and expressed his bafflement at not being invited to the conference in a series of tweets. He claimed that Pakistan has achieved significant success in this regard which the world has also acknowledged.
He further added that the policy of his government has been solely based upon mitigating the adverse impact of climate change in Pakistan. Pakistan is among the most vulnerable countries to be affected by climate change.
“I am puzzled at the cacophony over Pak not being invited to a climate change conference! My government’s environment policies are driven solely by our commitment to our future generations of a clean & green Pakistan to mitigate the impact of climate change,” said PM Imran Khan in a tweet.
Read more: PM Khan hopes for a climate-secure future for Pakistan
He named several initiatives like Billion Tree-Tsunami, Clean & Green Pakistan, and other nature-based solutions taken by his government in recent years to protect Pakistan from the ravages of climate change.
I am puzzled at the cacophony over Pak not being invited to a climate change conf! My govt's environment policies are driven solely by our commitment to our future generations of a clean & green Pakistan to mitigate the impact of climate change.
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) April 3, 2021
PM Imran Khan asserted that Pakistan has amassed a decent experience of seven years in this field and is open to sharing their expertise with other countries who are willing to work for climate change. Adding that the policies and initiatives for Pakistan have gained international accreditation.
“Hence our initiatives of Green Pak, 10 Billion-Tree Tsunami, Nature-based solutions, cleaning up our rivers, etc. We have gained vast experience in 7 years, beginning with KP, & our policies are being recognized & lauded. We are ready to help any state wanting to learn from our experience,” added PM Imran Khan further.
I have already laid out priorities for the UN Climate Change Conference 2021 – COP26 – if the international community is serious about countering impact of climate change.
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) April 3, 2021
A bit displeased, PM Imran Khan, added that he has set the priorities “for the UN Climate Change Conference 2021 – COP26 – if the international community is serious about countering the impact of climate change.”
Climate Change: PM Imran Khan, Joe Biden & The Times
In March, PM Imran Khan had written an article for The Times – a British National Daily- in which he expressed his commitment to working with other global leaders to combat the threat of climate change. Highlighting the challenges that the country is facing due to global warming, the premier said that the only way to counter these is by shifting towards a low carbon economy.
PM Khan started by explaining the devastating effects that the last year’s monsoon rains had on the country which left hundreds of people homeless and hundreds of them dead. Though Pakistan is used to handling heavy monsoon rains, the past year was particularly intense, primarily because of climate, he said.
Pakistan is ranked as the 8th most vulnerable country to climate impacts on The Global Climate Risk Index and the climate disasters frequency since the past two decades has kept on increasing. Till now, Pakistan has lost 9,989 lives, suffered economic losses worth $3.8 billion, and witnessed 152 extreme weather events, wrote the premier.
Read more: PM Imran Khan expands Pakistan’s national security with new additions
He pointed out that though Pakistan only emits less than 1 percent of global carbon emissions and is not a contributor to the globally changing climate, it is still committed to work for a global solution by pushing the growing economy on to a “greener, cleaner and low carbon future.”
Meanwhile, the ignorance of Joe Biden’s administration to skip Pakistan from the list of countries invited to the Climate Conference was met with criticism globally. A score of national and international analysts voiced bewilderment for skipping Pakistan that has an appreciable record of taking exemplary initiatives for climate change.