Leading by doing - Pakistani PM Imran Khan on the urgent need for climate action.

Climate change is one of the defining global challenges faced by our generation. It has far-reaching adverse economic, social and political impacts. The world is already witnessing unprecedented floods, severe droughts, increasing heat waves, spreading wildfires and fierce cyclonic activity. All of these pose a clear and present danger for humanity. While no country is immune from these impacts of climate change, most developing countries remain disproportionately affected by its negative impacts.

Pakistan is a case in point, as it lies at the geographic crossroads of melting glaciers, unpredictably shifting monsoons and enhanced disaster activity triggered by climate change. Despite Pakistan's diminutive contribution to global green house gas emissions, we are the fifth most climate-impacted country in the world, as indicated by the Germanwatch Global Climate Risk Index, 2020.

There is an urgent need for simultaneously raising ambition for climate action, while also building resilience and adapting to the inescapable impacts of climate change. Climate action by the developing countries, however, has to be based on the established principles of Equity and Common but Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities (CBDR-RC) - as agreed under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its Paris Agreement. It is also vital that developing countries are supported with enhanced climate finance, appropriate technology transfer and supportive capacity-building. In this regard, the existing pledge by the developed countries to mobilize $100 billion annually in climate finance for the developing countries remains critically essential, but as yet unfulfilled.

On its part, my government remains fully committed to play a leadership role in addressing the issue of climate change and making a shift towards a "clean and green" Pakistan through a well-articulated climate change agenda consisting of a number of on-the-ground flagship initiatives. Subsequent to the successful achievement of planting a billion trees in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan (2014-18), which enhanced the provincial forest cover by 6%, we are now implementing the "10 Billion Trees Tsunami" initiative which will restore and enhance over 1 million hectares of forest across the country. This project is expected to deliver multiple dividends by creating green jobs, sequestering carbon as well as promoting ecosystem-based adaptation. A truly...