Pakistan S Biblical Floods Should Be A Wake Up Call To The World Climate Lawyer Says

Massive flooding from rainfall since mid-June has killed at least 1,162 people in the country, a phenomenon experts blame on climate change. Over a million homes have been damaged or destroyed in the past two and a half months. Half a million of the displaced live in organized camps, while others have had to find their own shelter. Some doctors said Wednesday that they initially saw mostly patients injured by the floods. But now they are treating people suffering from diarrhoea, skin infections and other water-borne ailments in the flood-hit areas of the country. Hayat is a climate change lawyer and policy expert in Lahore. Here’s part of her chat with As It Happens guest Katie Simpson. What words would you use to describe the extent of this flood? Catastrophic. This is biblical in nature. Really, the kind of flood we’re experiencing this time – and Pakistan has been exposed to floods in the past – but what we’re seeing this time, the magnitude of it, the devastation it’s causing, I don’t think we could have prepared for this. I don’t think we could understand it. And it’s as heartbreaking as it gets. Residents of Bahrain in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province use a temporary swing service to cross the Swat River after heavy rains. (Abdul Majeed/AFP/Getty Images) The scale and scope, when you describe it like that, is absolutely overwhelming. I wonder if you can describe some of the scenes unfolding on the ground there? Right now, evacuation teams and aid and rescue teams are on the ground trying to help. It was very difficult because we lost thousands of kilometers of road. Many bridges have been destroyed. So many areas in the country, many districts, have been completely cut off and access to them has been difficult. I think so [Pakistan Climate Minister Sherry Rehman is] just when he turned around and said it’s just a whole ocean. The provinces of Sindh and Balochistan, which are our coastal provinces, are more or less submerged under water. These evacuees are currently in makeshift camps and these do not favor any form of comfort. I mean, it’s as sketchy as it gets. There is a shortage of food. There is a shortage of drinking water. We are hearing reports of waterborne diseases [and] diarrheal infections. Schools were lost. Children are affected. Some reports say out of the 1,100 people we losta very significant number are actually children. Internally displaced Pakistanis stand in a queue to receive food relief packages in the flood-hit Sukkur district of Sindh province on Wednesday. (Asif Hussan/AFP/Getty Images) The way you describe the challenges in helping the people who have survived this disaster, you know, is the lack of infrastructure now? Is this the biggest challenge in trying to physically help people? The lack of infrastructure is certainly one of the biggest challenges. Also, it keeps raining, and it’s pouring… so it’s just one second, it’s not raining, and then the next second, there’s a torrential downpour. This was very challenging. The areas that are submerged, even if there were roads, the means of transport could not access. So we use helicopters to drop rations and food packages to people who are still trapped, but surrounded by water. We heard from UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, and says: “Let’s stop sleepwalking towards the destruction of our planet by climate change.” He went on to say, “Today, it is Pakistan. Tomorrow, it could be your country.” Do you think that message will really start to resonate with people when they see the devastating images coming out of this country? I hope so, Katie. The truth is that Pakistan is raising its voice … in many international forums because climate change has been a stark reality for us for two years now. We literally live with it. The kind of heatwaves we have, they are more prolonged now. Every year they become more serious, more prolonged. We are facing agricultural shortages due to temperature fluctuations. Pakistan is no stranger to monsoon rains. Every year we have monsoon rains and we dread them because our cities are not really designed for very heavy rainfall. But generally we have about three to four monsoon cycles. This time we have already taken eight cycles and we are expecting more. And there are some predictions or forecasts that suggest that the monsoon rains will continue till mid-October. Pakistan is angry because we barely contribute to global greenhouse gas emissions. Our contribution is about 0.8 percent. This is negligible. And yet we are at the end of it. We are facing the brunt of climate change. This aerial photo taken on Wednesday shows flooded residential areas after heavy monsoon rains in Jaffarabad district of Balochistan province. (Fida Hussain/AFP/Getty Images) You talk about anger, that people are blaming the developed world for this climate disaster unfolding right now in Pakistan. Can you talk about that — about where that anger comes from and where it’s directed? This anger has been part of the climate change discourse for some time. And there are really two ways to look at it. One is that, yes, the developed world is behind this global phenomenon, and the developing world and the low island nation states, and especially the subcontinent, which is India, Pakistan [and] Bangladesh, we are the global South, we are facing the brunt of it. And so we want the developed world to do what they can in terms of sending capital to this part of the world, the global South, so that we can start to fight climate change, we can start to adapt to it [and] mitigating it. There is a very strong need and anger should really be understood as “Send help”. And the best way to do that for the developed world is to invest in technological progress and then transfer that technology to the global South, because we need to start adapting and living with climate change as best we can. And for that we need technology transfer. You kind of talk about it there, but… what do you want to see other countries do in terms of aid? What needs to happen is for the developed world to start controlling greenhouse gas emissions. They then begin sending aid and funds to the developed world and low-lying island nations that face increasing climate impacts on a daily basis. Right now, with the flooding, I think what we want, what we need is help. We need support. We need expert advice. Pakistan should be fully restored. The whole nation should be restored. And we need help with that. And we don’t want political disparities to get in the way. We don’t want this to become a political issue. This is a humanitarian crisis for my country, and this is a climate crisis for the world. This is an eye opener for everyone. Written by Sheena Goodyear with files from The Associated Press. Interview produced by Kate Swoger. The Q&A has been edited for length and clarity.

title: “Pakistan S Biblical Floods Should Be A Wake Up Call To The World Climate Lawyer Says Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-18” author: “Allison Silvas”

Massive flooding from rainfall since mid-June has killed at least 1,162 people in the country, a phenomenon experts blame on climate change. Over a million homes have been damaged or destroyed in the past two and a half months. Half a million of the displaced live in organized camps, while others have had to find their own shelter. Some doctors said Wednesday that they initially saw mostly patients injured by the floods. But now they are treating people suffering from diarrhoea, skin infections and other water-borne ailments in the flood-hit areas of the country. Hayat is a climate change lawyer and policy expert in Lahore. Here’s part of her chat with As It Happens guest Katie Simpson. What words would you use to describe the extent of this flood? Catastrophic. This is biblical in nature. Really, the kind of flood we’re experiencing this time – and Pakistan has been exposed to floods in the past – but what we’re seeing this time, the magnitude of it, the devastation it’s causing, I don’t think we could have prepared for this. I don’t think we could understand it. And it’s as heartbreaking as it gets. Residents of Bahrain in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province use a temporary swing service to cross the Swat River after heavy rains. (Abdul Majeed/AFP/Getty Images) The scale and scope, when you describe it like that, is absolutely overwhelming. I wonder if you can describe some of the scenes unfolding on the ground there? Right now, evacuation teams and aid and rescue teams are on the ground trying to help. It was very difficult because we lost thousands of kilometers of road. Many bridges have been destroyed. So many areas in the country, many districts, have been completely cut off and access to them has been difficult. I think so [Pakistan Climate Minister Sherry Rehman is] just when he turned around and said it’s just a whole ocean. The provinces of Sindh and Balochistan, which are our coastal provinces, are more or less submerged under water. These evacuees are currently in makeshift camps and these do not favor any form of comfort. I mean, it’s as sketchy as it gets. There is a shortage of food. There is a shortage of drinking water. We are hearing reports of waterborne diseases [and] diarrheal infections. Schools were lost. Children are affected. Some reports say out of the 1,100 people we losta very significant number are actually children. Internally displaced Pakistanis stand in a queue to receive food relief packages in the flood-hit Sukkur district of Sindh province on Wednesday. (Asif Hussan/AFP/Getty Images) The way you describe the challenges in helping the people who have survived this disaster, you know, is the lack of infrastructure now? Is this the biggest challenge in trying to physically help people? The lack of infrastructure is certainly one of the biggest challenges. Also, it keeps raining, and it’s pouring… so it’s just one second, it’s not raining, and then the next second, there’s a torrential downpour. This was very challenging. The areas that are submerged, even if there were roads, the means of transport could not access. So we use helicopters to drop rations and food packages to people who are still trapped, but surrounded by water. We heard from UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, and says: “Let’s stop sleepwalking towards the destruction of our planet by climate change.” He went on to say, “Today, it is Pakistan. Tomorrow, it could be your country.” Do you think that message will really start to resonate with people when they see the devastating images coming out of this country? I hope so, Katie. The truth is that Pakistan is raising its voice … in many international forums because climate change has been a stark reality for us for two years now. We literally live with it. The kind of heatwaves we have, they are more prolonged now. Every year they become more serious, more prolonged. We are facing agricultural shortages due to temperature fluctuations. Pakistan is no stranger to monsoon rains. Every year we have monsoon rains and we dread them because our cities are not really designed for very heavy rainfall. But generally we have about three to four monsoon cycles. This time we have already taken eight cycles and we are expecting more. And there are some predictions or forecasts that suggest that the monsoon rains will continue till mid-October. Pakistan is angry because we barely contribute to global greenhouse gas emissions. Our contribution is about 0.8 percent. This is negligible. And yet we are at the end of it. We are facing the brunt of climate change. This aerial photo taken on Wednesday shows flooded residential areas after heavy monsoon rains in Jaffarabad district of Balochistan province. (Fida Hussain/AFP/Getty Images) You talk about anger, that people are blaming the developed world for this climate disaster unfolding right now in Pakistan. Can you talk about that — about where that anger comes from and where it’s directed? This anger has been part of the climate change discourse for some time. And there are really two ways to look at it. One is that, yes, the developed world is behind this global phenomenon, and the developing world and the low island nation states, and especially the subcontinent, which is India, Pakistan [and] Bangladesh, we are the global South, we are facing the brunt of it. And so we want the developed world to do what they can in terms of sending capital to this part of the world, the global South, so that we can start to fight climate change, we can start to adapt to it [and] mitigating it. There is a very strong need and anger should really be understood as “Send help”. And the best way to do that for the developed world is to invest in technological progress and then transfer that technology to the global South, because we need to start adapting and living with climate change as best we can. And for that we need technology transfer. You kind of talk about it there, but… what do you want to see other countries do in terms of aid? What needs to happen is for the developed world to start controlling greenhouse gas emissions. They then begin sending aid and funds to the developed world and low-lying island nations that face increasing climate impacts on a daily basis. Right now, with the flooding, I think what we want, what we need is help. We need support. We need expert advice. Pakistan should be fully restored. The whole nation should be restored. And we need help with that. And we don’t want political disparities to get in the way. We don’t want this to become a political issue. This is a humanitarian crisis for my country, and this is a climate crisis for the world. This is an eye opener for everyone. Written by Sheena Goodyear with files from The Associated Press. Interview produced by Kate Swoger. The Q&A has been edited for length and clarity.

title: “Pakistan S Biblical Floods Should Be A Wake Up Call To The World Climate Lawyer Says Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-12” author: “John Jones”

Massive flooding from rainfall since mid-June has killed at least 1,162 people in the country, a phenomenon experts blame on climate change. Over a million homes have been damaged or destroyed in the past two and a half months. Half a million of the displaced live in organized camps, while others have had to find their own shelter. Some doctors said Wednesday that they initially saw mostly patients injured by the floods. But now they are treating people suffering from diarrhoea, skin infections and other water-borne ailments in the flood-hit areas of the country. Hayat is a climate change lawyer and policy expert in Lahore. Here’s part of her chat with As It Happens guest Katie Simpson. What words would you use to describe the extent of this flood? Catastrophic. This is biblical in nature. Really, the kind of flood we’re experiencing this time – and Pakistan has been exposed to floods in the past – but what we’re seeing this time, the magnitude of it, the devastation it’s causing, I don’t think we could have prepared for this. I don’t think we could understand it. And it’s as heartbreaking as it gets. Residents of Bahrain in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province use a temporary swing service to cross the Swat River after heavy rains. (Abdul Majeed/AFP/Getty Images) The scale and scope, when you describe it like that, is absolutely overwhelming. I wonder if you can describe some of the scenes unfolding on the ground there? Right now, evacuation teams and aid and rescue teams are on the ground trying to help. It was very difficult because we lost thousands of kilometers of road. Many bridges have been destroyed. So many areas in the country, many districts, have been completely cut off and access to them has been difficult. I think so [Pakistan Climate Minister Sherry Rehman is] just when he turned around and said it’s just a whole ocean. The provinces of Sindh and Balochistan, which are our coastal provinces, are more or less submerged under water. These evacuees are currently in makeshift camps and these do not favor any form of comfort. I mean, it’s as sketchy as it gets. There is a shortage of food. There is a shortage of drinking water. We are hearing reports of waterborne diseases [and] diarrheal infections. Schools were lost. Children are affected. Some reports say out of the 1,100 people we losta very significant number are actually children. Internally displaced Pakistanis stand in a queue to receive food relief packages in the flood-hit Sukkur district of Sindh province on Wednesday. (Asif Hussan/AFP/Getty Images) The way you describe the challenges in helping the people who have survived this disaster, you know, is the lack of infrastructure now? Is this the biggest challenge in trying to physically help people? The lack of infrastructure is certainly one of the biggest challenges. Also, it keeps raining, and it’s pouring… so it’s just one second, it’s not raining, and then the next second, there’s a torrential downpour. This was very challenging. The areas that are submerged, even if there were roads, the means of transport could not access. So we use helicopters to drop rations and food packages to people who are still trapped, but surrounded by water. We heard from UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, and says: “Let’s stop sleepwalking towards the destruction of our planet by climate change.” He went on to say, “Today, it is Pakistan. Tomorrow, it could be your country.” Do you think that message will really start to resonate with people when they see the devastating images coming out of this country? I hope so, Katie. The truth is that Pakistan is raising its voice … in many international forums because climate change has been a stark reality for us for two years now. We literally live with it. The kind of heatwaves we have, they are more prolonged now. Every year they become more serious, more prolonged. We are facing agricultural shortages due to temperature fluctuations. Pakistan is no stranger to monsoon rains. Every year we have monsoon rains and we dread them because our cities are not really designed for very heavy rainfall. But generally we have about three to four monsoon cycles. This time we have already taken eight cycles and we are expecting more. And there are some predictions or forecasts that suggest that the monsoon rains will continue till mid-October. Pakistan is angry because we barely contribute to global greenhouse gas emissions. Our contribution is about 0.8 percent. This is negligible. And yet we are at the end of it. We are facing the brunt of climate change. This aerial photo taken on Wednesday shows flooded residential areas after heavy monsoon rains in Jaffarabad district of Balochistan province. (Fida Hussain/AFP/Getty Images) You talk about anger, that people are blaming the developed world for this climate disaster unfolding right now in Pakistan. Can you talk about that — about where that anger comes from and where it’s directed? This anger has been part of the climate change discourse for some time. And there are really two ways to look at it. One is that, yes, the developed world is behind this global phenomenon, and the developing world and the low island nation states, and especially the subcontinent, which is India, Pakistan [and] Bangladesh, we are the global South, we are facing the brunt of it. And so we want the developed world to do what they can in terms of sending capital to this part of the world, the global South, so that we can start to fight climate change, we can start to adapt to it [and] mitigating it. There is a very strong need and anger should really be understood as “Send help”. And the best way to do that for the developed world is to invest in technological progress and then transfer that technology to the global South, because we need to start adapting and living with climate change as best we can. And for that we need technology transfer. You kind of talk about it there, but… what do you want to see other countries do in terms of aid? What needs to happen is for the developed world to start controlling greenhouse gas emissions. They then begin sending aid and funds to the developed world and low-lying island nations that face increasing climate impacts on a daily basis. Right now, with the flooding, I think what we want, what we need is help. We need support. We need expert advice. Pakistan should be fully restored. The whole nation should be restored. And we need help with that. And we don’t want political disparities to get in the way. We don’t want this to become a political issue. This is a humanitarian crisis for my country, and this is a climate crisis for the world. This is an eye opener for everyone. Written by Sheena Goodyear with files from The Associated Press. Interview produced by Kate Swoger. The Q&A has been edited for length and clarity.

title: “Pakistan S Biblical Floods Should Be A Wake Up Call To The World Climate Lawyer Says Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-10-27” author: “Claire Rush”

Massive flooding from rainfall since mid-June has killed at least 1,162 people in the country, a phenomenon experts blame on climate change. Over a million homes have been damaged or destroyed in the past two and a half months. Half a million of the displaced live in organized camps, while others have had to find their own shelter. Some doctors said Wednesday that they initially saw mostly patients injured by the floods. But now they are treating people suffering from diarrhoea, skin infections and other water-borne ailments in the flood-hit areas of the country. Hayat is a climate change lawyer and policy expert in Lahore. Here’s part of her chat with As It Happens guest Katie Simpson. What words would you use to describe the extent of this flood? Catastrophic. This is biblical in nature. Really, the kind of flood we’re experiencing this time – and Pakistan has been exposed to floods in the past – but what we’re seeing this time, the magnitude of it, the devastation it’s causing, I don’t think we could have prepared for this. I don’t think we could understand it. And it’s as heartbreaking as it gets. Residents of Bahrain in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province use a temporary swing service to cross the Swat River after heavy rains. (Abdul Majeed/AFP/Getty Images) The scale and scope, when you describe it like that, is absolutely overwhelming. I wonder if you can describe some of the scenes unfolding on the ground there? Right now, evacuation teams and aid and rescue teams are on the ground trying to help. It was very difficult because we lost thousands of kilometers of road. Many bridges have been destroyed. So many areas in the country, many districts, have been completely cut off and access to them has been difficult. I think so [Pakistan Climate Minister Sherry Rehman is] just when he turned around and said it’s just a whole ocean. The provinces of Sindh and Balochistan, which are our coastal provinces, are more or less submerged under water. These evacuees are currently in makeshift camps and these do not favor any form of comfort. I mean, it’s as sketchy as it gets. There is a shortage of food. There is a shortage of drinking water. We are hearing reports of waterborne diseases [and] diarrheal infections. Schools were lost. Children are affected. Some reports say out of the 1,100 people we losta very significant number are actually children. Internally displaced Pakistanis stand in a queue to receive food relief packages in the flood-hit Sukkur district of Sindh province on Wednesday. (Asif Hussan/AFP/Getty Images) The way you describe the challenges in helping the people who have survived this disaster, you know, is the lack of infrastructure now? Is this the biggest challenge in trying to physically help people? The lack of infrastructure is certainly one of the biggest challenges. Also, it keeps raining, and it’s pouring… so it’s just one second, it’s not raining, and then the next second, there’s a torrential downpour. This was very challenging. The areas that are submerged, even if there were roads, the means of transport could not access. So we use helicopters to drop rations and food packages to people who are still trapped, but surrounded by water. We heard from UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, and says: “Let’s stop sleepwalking towards the destruction of our planet by climate change.” He went on to say, “Today, it is Pakistan. Tomorrow, it could be your country.” Do you think that message will really start to resonate with people when they see the devastating images coming out of this country? I hope so, Katie. The truth is that Pakistan is raising its voice … in many international forums because climate change has been a stark reality for us for two years now. We literally live with it. The kind of heatwaves we have, they are more prolonged now. Every year they become more serious, more prolonged. We are facing agricultural shortages due to temperature fluctuations. Pakistan is no stranger to monsoon rains. Every year we have monsoon rains and we dread them because our cities are not really designed for very heavy rainfall. But generally we have about three to four monsoon cycles. This time we have already taken eight cycles and we are expecting more. And there are some predictions or forecasts that suggest that the monsoon rains will continue till mid-October. Pakistan is angry because we barely contribute to global greenhouse gas emissions. Our contribution is about 0.8 percent. This is negligible. And yet we are at the end of it. We are facing the brunt of climate change. This aerial photo taken on Wednesday shows flooded residential areas after heavy monsoon rains in Jaffarabad district of Balochistan province. (Fida Hussain/AFP/Getty Images) You talk about anger, that people are blaming the developed world for this climate disaster unfolding right now in Pakistan. Can you talk about that — about where that anger comes from and where it’s directed? This anger has been part of the climate change discourse for some time. And there are really two ways to look at it. One is that, yes, the developed world is behind this global phenomenon, and the developing world and the low island nation states, and especially the subcontinent, which is India, Pakistan [and] Bangladesh, we are the global South, we are facing the brunt of it. And so we want the developed world to do what they can in terms of sending capital to this part of the world, the global South, so that we can start to fight climate change, we can start to adapt to it [and] mitigating it. There is a very strong need and anger should really be understood as “Send help”. And the best way to do that for the developed world is to invest in technological progress and then transfer that technology to the global South, because we need to start adapting and living with climate change as best we can. And for that we need technology transfer. You kind of talk about it there, but… what do you want to see other countries do in terms of aid? What needs to happen is for the developed world to start controlling greenhouse gas emissions. They then begin sending aid and funds to the developed world and low-lying island nations that face increasing climate impacts on a daily basis. Right now, with the flooding, I think what we want, what we need is help. We need support. We need expert advice. Pakistan should be fully restored. The whole nation should be restored. And we need help with that. And we don’t want political disparities to get in the way. We don’t want this to become a political issue. This is a humanitarian crisis for my country, and this is a climate crisis for the world. This is an eye opener for everyone. Written by Sheena Goodyear with files from The Associated Press. Interview produced by Kate Swoger. The Q&A has been edited for length and clarity.