Pakistan urgently needs resilience, rebuilding adaptation funds: Sherry.

ISLAMABAD -- Federal Minister for Climate Change Senator Sherry Rehman on Wednesday said after flash floods most parts of Sindh were still inundated as many areas were below the sea level.

In a statement issued here, the minister maintained that funds and resources were not enough for saving lives and providing shelter to the flood affectees.

She called for bridging the gap between existing and upcoming needs despite immediate response from the development partners and the UN Secretary General's appeal to assist Pakistan.

'One thing is affecting every relief effort, and that is a clear deficit of funds and goods. We have already re-purposed all development and climate resilience funds towards relief, especially to front load the Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) to ensure that the Rs25,000 tranches are made available immediately to affected families,' she said.

The minister said, 'In addition to the UN system, given the scale and immediacy of the disaster, we urgently need more assistance from the international community for relief, as thousands are still in tents, while many still seek a cover over their heads. Thousands are still seeking shelter, and we worry about people spending the entire winter this way. Pakistan will need much more to service 33 million people affected.'

About food insecurity Sherry said, 'Pakistan is faced with the threat of food insecurity as the floods have drowned vast swathes of agricultural land, and made the cost or availability of food a prohibitive cost. The Hunger Hotspot Report 2022 (FAO-WFP early warnings on food insecurity) shows that the impact of the floods will compound the rapid deterioration of the country's situation, driving food insecurity beyond the 4.7 million (26%) severely food insecure population in 3 provinces of the country; Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh.'

She went on saying, 'Not only have we lost the crops that were to be harvested, there are serious concerns over how much land will be available for the upcoming planting (Rabi) season. Initial damage estimates indicate a loss of 74% of cultivable land in Sindh alone; totaling to 3,410,743 acres. The province, which is considered Pakistan's bread basket, has lost 100% of its Cotton crop, 88% of Vegetables, and 66% of Rice to the floods. Nationally, over 4 million acres of agricultural land have been lost to the floods amounting to a financial loss of over 481 million rupees.'

About the climate impacts, she said, 'Climate...