PM proposes debt swap for climate action.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday said that the international community's sustained support in the rehabilitation and reconstruction of flood-ravaged Pakistan is a matter of justice, not just solidarity.

In an interview with Anadolu Agency, he proposed 'debt swaps for climate action,' saying death, devastation, and destruction are 'driven by global climate change causes,' despite the fact that Pakistan contributes less than 1% of the global carbon footprint. Pakistan is facing a 'brunt of natural calamities in the form of heat waves, glacial outbursts, droughts, torrential rains, and unprecedented monsoons,' he said, adding that one-third of the country is underwater.

'Therefore, the response calls for international solidarity and collective action,' Shehbaz said during the interview on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

Pakistan is witnessing what he called 'super floods' caused by 'monsoon on steroids,' a calamity that has affected more than 33 million people, resulted in the death of over 1,500 people, and caused damages to private and public infrastructure worth $30 billion, according to official estimates.

Recalling a statement made by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres during a solidarity visit to Pakistan, PM Shehbaz said that countries like Pakistan, which 'have done almost nothing to contribute to global warming, do not deserve to be amongst the frontline countries impacted the most by climate change.'

'It is not just a matter of solidarity, but a matter of justice,' he emphasised, calling on the industrialised nations to 'meet their climate finance commitments, with a balanced focus on adaptation and mitigation.'

The prime minister also proposed establishing a 'loss and damage financing facility' to compensate developing countries most severely impacted by climate change.

Besides the national effort to mitigate flood-related damages, the premier said that Pakistan is 'regularly receiving humanitarian relief items through air, sea and land routes.'

'To date, we have received over 100 flights carrying necessary goods including food, pumps...