Moot blames global capitalist system for climate change.

KARACHI -- Environment experts, lawyers, social and political leaders at a climate conference titled 'Global capitalism: responsible for environmental disasters' on Monday said that international capitalism is responsible for the huge destruction due to climate change and environmental degradation.

At the event, organised by National Trade Union Federation (NTUF) and Home-Based Women Workers Federation (HBWWF) at the Arts Council of Pakistan here, people directly affected due to the recent floods also participated and briefed the audience about their problems.

Dr Miriam Sagg, the legal director of the European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), Germany said that the climate crises have been caused by multiple actors. 'We will see that the 'polluter-pays-principle' is applied when dealing with the climate devastation,' she said.

Faisal Edhi of the Edhi Foundation said that the recent floods were the worst in the history of Pakistan, directly affecting 35 million people and indirectly affecting millions others.

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He said that the government of Pakistan and the global community has failed not only to correctly assess the losses, but also in providing timely assistance to the affected people. 'The government and global community have left the millions of affected people, especially women and children, neglected and ignored. They are deprived of basic needs such as food, water and medicines. Now, we have winter coming and it would create another human tragedy,' he said.

NTUF General Secretary Nasir Mansoor said that the model capital mode of progress has created a big threat for the survival of life on Earth. He said that 'capitalist economy' is another name for 'environmental terrorism'.

'For the last 150 years, the capitalist countries with unbridled use of fossil fuels have threatened life on Earth. Due to energy obtained from gas, oil and coal, very high carbon emissions have raised global temperature to alarming levels, hardly hitting the natural environment,' he said.

'Floods, earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis, melting of glaciers, rise in sea levels, pandemics and heat waves all are the result of these climate changes affecting billions of people. The capitalist system has made the people its salaried slaves. It has occupied the resources of nations, pushed the people to dreadful wars...