The Secretary General of the United Nations said that he was ‘deeply frustrated’ that wealthy nations are not really into fighting global warming.
Guterres urged U.N. delegates to support the changes, while discussing assistance for Pakistan, regarding the deadly floods that began in late June last year.
On Jan. 9, while addressing a conference in Geneva, Guterres said that the world financial system was unfairly slanted in favor of wealthier countries and that it should be reformed to ensure a more equitable distribution of resources.
“It is very clear that the present system is biased,” Guterres told reporters and denounced what he called a “morally corrupt global financial system.”
Pakistan Still Reeling From Summer Floods
The Secretary General appeared with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of Pakistan, who pleaded for $8 billion from the international community over the next three years to support his country’s recovery efforts after the summer 2022 floods, which killed at least 1,700 people, displaced millions, and damaged key infrastructure.More than 33 million Pakistanis were affected by the flooding in the provinces of Sindh and Baluchistan, according to the U.N.
Over 2.2 million homes, 13 percent of all health facilities, 4.4 million acres of crops, more than 4,970 miles of roads, and other vital infrastructure, such as around 440 bridges, were destroyed by the monsoon floods.
UN Secretary General Calls International Assistance Insufficient
The International Monetary Fund’s delegation met with Pakistan’s finance minister at the U.N. conference, but has not approved the release of the $1.1 billion that was supposed to be delivered in November 2021, leaving the broke South Asian nation with enough foreign exchange reserves to cover one month of imports.Guterres said that he was “deeply frustrated” at the reluctance of global leaders and the little investment in combating climate emergencies as CO2 levels rise.
“Global leaders are not giving this life-or-death emergency the action and investment it requires,” he said.
He said that the countries’ economic situations should be taken into account when major financial institutions distribute below-market-rate financing.
“We need a new debt architecture and we need to make sure that debt relief is effectively provided by the system even to middle income countries that are on the verge of very difficult, very dramatic situations including suspending payments,” Guterres said.
UN Asks World Powers to Redistribute Wealth to Poorer Nations to Fight Climate Change
Major donors were warned that they too will be affected by natural disasters caused by climate change.“Today, it’s you, Pakistan, that needs help. But tomorrow, it could be us, all of us,“ Swiss Federal Councilor for Foreign Affairs Ignazio Cassis, told the audience. ”One thing is certain: none of us is safe. We are all concerned by climate change, a global threat that requires a global response.”
U.N. Development Programme Administrator Achim Steiner pointed to representatives of the wealthier nations, saying, “look to the east, in Australia, extraordinary flood events; look to the west in California, extreme weather events, look to Europe, and people are wondering what happened to snow in winter, we are living in profoundly changing times.”
To express his solidarity with the less developed nations, French President Emmanuel Macron promised via video link that France would pledge $386 million “to respond to the challenge of resilience rebuilding and climate adaptation.”
The French president complained that only 30 percent of the UN’s emergency funding appeal had been fulfilled, as cold temperatures begin to hit worldwide.
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