The devastating monsoon-driven floods that occurred this summer have destroyed every aspect of Rajul Noor’s life. Both the 12-year-old girl’s beloved school and her house are devastated. Her former walking and playing companions to school have dispersed and sought other homes.
She claimed this while standing in the tent she now shares with her parents, four siblings, and another person in Dadu district of Pakistan’s Sindh province. “Our whole world is submerged, and nobody has helped us,” she added.
The cotton and rice harvests in the area were completely wiped off. According to local officials, more than half of its elementary and secondary institutions suffered complete or partial damage.
Weeks after the rains ceased, boats packed with people and their possessions traverse Dadu, passing by houses that are still half underwater. All around Pakistan, villages and cities continue to sustain destruction of this magnitude.
The devastation has fueled the argument over whether wealthy nations, whose emissions are the primary cause of climate change, should be held responsible for the harm that shift is causing to developing nations like Pakistan.
Although Pakistan and other developing nations are seeking for it to be properly debated at COP27, the next international climate summit in Egypt, rich nations have consistently rejected it.
In many respects, the dispute is crystallised by Pakistan. According to scientists, climate change undoubtedly contributed to the monsoon rains this summer, which dropped three and a half times as much rain as usual and submerged a third of the country. 33 million people in Pakistan were impacted, and at least 1,300 people died.
Pakistan, whose 0.8% contribution to global emissions is now expected to result in damages of more over $30 billion, or more than 10% of its GDP. 2 million houses that have been damaged or destroyed, approximately 24,000 schools, almost 1,500 medical institutions, and 13,000 kilometres (7,800 miles) of roads all need to be repaired or replaced. Dams, hotels, bridges, and other buildings were destroyed.
At the U.N. General Assembly last month, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilwal Bhutto-Zardari remarked, “These 33 million Pakistanis are paying with their lives and livelihoods for the industrialization of bigger countries.”
Sherry Rehman, a minister for climate change, went even farther, asserting that wealthy nations owe compensation to those affected by climatic catastrophes.
Developed countries have rejected anything that even somewhat resembles reparations because of concern that it will pave the way for significant climate claims against them from all around the world.
They committed to contributing funds to assist developing nations in reducing emissions and preparing their infrastructure for future climate change, but they have been sluggish to do so. However, during COP26 in Glasgow last year, representatives from the United States and the European Union turned down calls for a fund to pay developing nations for “loss and damage”—damage already caused by climate change.
“Liability is a huge challenge for larger nations. How long can they continue to put the problem off? According to Margeretha Wewerinke-Singh, an assistant professor of international public law at Leiden University in the Netherlands, “They may eventually want to settle since the problem won’t go away.
In its quest for an advisory opinion on climate change from the International Court of Justice, she is the government’s chief attorney on the tiny Pacific island nation of Vanuatu.
According to Wewerinke-Singh, there is a legal basis for action. According to international law, governments have a responsibility to protect one other’s environments. Violations can result in a duty to make amends, which might take the form of paying compensation or putting things right again.
She stated that Pakistan has two choices. Through an international organisation like the ICJ, it may pursue governments. However, because China and the United States do not acknowledge the ICJ’s authority, this option excludes them as two of the largest greenhouse gas emitters in the world. Or it might bring legal actions against authorities or businesses that use fossil fuels.
She cited instances when cigarette firms were successfully sued for the harm that smoking had caused.
“Climate change lawsuit is still in its early stages. The tobacco action is an example of a case that was initially thought to be fanciful but quickly gained momentum, she added.
Despite Rehman’s claim, Pakistan’s prime minister and foreign minister have both stated that no reparations are being sought by their nation. Instead, they have vehemently argued that wealthy nations have a duty to assist Pakistan, a country that is suffering as a result of climate change.
That may be an indication that Islamabad believes it is more likely to secure the funding it requires by pressuring developed nations to contribute at a donor conference for Pakistan supported by the U.N. later this year rather than stoking their concerns about reparations by pursuing a long-term, systematic solution like a fund for loss and damage.
The issue of how far Pakistan’s own actions exacerbated the effects of the flood disaster complicated the argument for compensation.
The main responsibility for the damage rests with those producing climate change, according to Ayesha Siddiqi, an expert on climate change and catastrophes, “but there is culpability” with Pakistan as well. She contributed to a scholarly report that was published last month and highlighted Pakistan’s vulnerabilities that it had built for itself.
According to Daanish Mustafa, who co-authored Pakistan’s first climate change response strategy and served as lead author on a U.N. flood response strategy for Pakistan, no modifications were implemented following the 2010 flooding that claimed over 2,000 lives.
He has advocated clearing up impediments to natural drainage and opposing the construction of homes on flood plains.
Noor follows the same schedule in Dadu as she did in her hometown of Gholam Nabi Pir. She helps her four younger siblings get ready for the day when they wake up at 5 a.m. They attend classes in a nearby tent. But she and her friends no longer take the long walk to school together, they no longer play tag outside her house, and they no longer enjoy the filling customary meal of fried eggs and paratha flatbread.
“I was content to stay at home. I miss every aspect of it,” she remarked. It causes me to cry.
