Global climate change poses threat to human security: Pakistani National Assembly Speaker

Islamabad, Sep 14 (IANS) Pakistani National Assembly Speaker, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf has said that global climate change is acting as a real threat to human security and effective measures should be taken to cope with it.Addressing a two-day seminar jointly organised by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the Pakistan National Assembly, Ashraf added on Tuesday that legislators of various parliaments in the world should play their part in the effective mitigation of the climate crisis.Titled the "Third Inter-Parliamentary Union Regional Seminar on Achieving Sustainable Development Goals for Parliaments of Asia-Pacific" here at the parliament house, the seminar aimed to improve coordination among Asia-Pacific countries for devising ways and means of achieving sustainable prosperity.Speaking at the event with local parliamentarians and foreign delegates in attendance, the Speaker said that his country is facing severe effects of climate change despite its negligible contributions to global warming, Xinhua news agency reported."Pakistan is ranked eighth among the countries most vulnerable to climate change despite contributing less than 1 per cent to global emissions, and the recent flood in Pakistan caused irreparable loss of precious lives and destruction to basic infrastructure, including roads, houses, schools, and basic health units," he added.He said that his country is making its best efforts to rescue and rehabilitate the affected people, but the world should also play its role in supporting Pakistan in the hour of need.Speaking at the event, IPU President Duarte Pacheco urged the international community, especially the developed countries, to help Pakistan recover from the catastrophe of the floods.He said that it is important for the developed world to show solidarity with the people and families of Pakistan, who suffered due to the catastrophic flood, and support the country to meet financial needs during the process of rescue, relief, and rebuilding in the flood-hit areas.
--IANS int/khz/

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