Pakistan’s perfect storm is an urgent call to action | 我们从巴基斯坦的“世纪洪水”中学到了什么? - FT中文网
登录×
电子邮件/用户名
密码
记住我
请输入邮箱和密码进行绑定操作:
请输入手机号码,通过短信验证(目前仅支持中国大陆地区的手机号):
请您阅读我们的用户注册协议隐私权保护政策,点击下方按钮即视为您接受。
FT英语电台

Pakistan’s perfect storm is an urgent call to action
我们从巴基斯坦的“世纪洪水”中学到了什么?

Devastating floods have hit a country riven by financial and political crises
毁灭性的洪水袭击了一个饱受金融和政治危机困扰的国家。
00:00

Sections of the Yangtze river dried up, forest fires burnt across France and the falling level of America’s Lake Mead revealed long-lost human remains. This summer has been heavy with examples of what a warming climate will mean to our future. Nowhere else, however, has suffered the extremes of Pakistan, which has gone from 50C temperatures to devastating floods in a few months, even as it wrestles with financial and political crises.

One-third of Pakistan is under water. More than 1,000 people have died and the cost will exceed initial estimates of $10bn by far. It is a devastating illustration of the need to invest in adaptation to a changing climate, with both general lessons on how the international community should respond and specific challenges for Pakistan.

Within Pakistan there are two clear lessons: forecasting and evacuations. There were some predictions of very high rainfall, but even to the extent forecasters got it right, it did not translate into governmental awareness. Nor did the rain’s ferocity trigger effective evacuations that could have saved lives.

Pakistan’s dysfunctional political system over decades has prevented the development of a governance structure with the resources and planning capacity to handle disasters of such magnitude. The country failed properly to improve infrastructure after severe floods in 2010. Its fractured politics look set to continue with a push from Imran Khan, ousted as prime minister in April, for early elections. He is riding a wave of populist anger, strengthened by austerity measures required as part of a $1.1bn IMF bailout package.

The country’s plight has lessons for others. There is a tendency to think of adaptation to climate change in terms of “hard” infrastructure: dams to hold back floodwaters or seawalls to keep the oceans at bay. However, “soft” adaptation such as improved flood forecasting and evacuation are as important. This should be a priority for developing nations exposed to climate change.

That is not to deny the need for physical infrastructure, which costs money. There is anger among leaders in the developing world about rich countries’ failure to provide resources for investment in adaptation. Their attitude, understandably, is that industrialised countries caused the problem with two centuries of carbon emissions, and they should pay to fix the damage. There will be vocal complaints, again, at the upcoming G20 summit in Indonesia and the COP27 climate talks in Egypt.

No matter the justice of their demands, too much focus on liability for the problem may get in the way of addressing it. Rich countries are reluctant to take on an open-ended liability. But their efforts to escape liabilities ignore their clear self-interest in bolstering climate-adaptation in countries such as Pakistan, a fragile, nuclear-armed state caught between China and the US in a volatile region.

Adaptation spending often faces less overt political opposition than efforts to phase out fossil fuels. Financing projects such as flood defences is the expertise of multilateral development banks. Rich countries should meet their responsibilities by, for example, subsidising concessional loans for adaptation on a massive scale.

In Pakistan, the challenge is complicated by the country’s debt crisis. Floods will only exacerbate Pakistan’s economic problems, creating risks that current IMF support is not enough to achieve debt sustainability. It is nonetheless important to keep the issues distinct: Pakistan should not be denied investment in climate adaptation because of fears cash will be diverted to shore up its short-term finances. Pakistanis desperately need help now, but they need a future as well.

版权声明:本文版权归FT中文网所有,未经允许任何单位或个人不得转载,复制或以任何其他方式使用本文全部或部分,侵权必究。

苹果在AI人才争夺战中遭遇一连串离职打击

自今年伊始以来,这家iPhone制造商已有十几名AI团队员工跳槽到竞争对手公司。

Lex专栏:如何理性看待OpenAI急剧攀升的估值

无论采用传统估值方法还是更具创新性的方式,投资者都在支持萨姆•奥尔特曼的公司。

前劳工统计局局长:特朗普对数据的攻击将造成持久伤害

可靠的政府统计数据是美国经济的基石之一。

印度的俄罗斯石油难题

面对特朗普的施压,莫迪要么接受美国的关税,要么从俄罗斯转向其他供应国,要么尝试与特朗普达成某种妥协。

梅德韦杰夫:从自由派希望到核威胁的漫长转变

这位俄罗斯前总统在社交媒体上公开挑衅特朗普。他已从俄罗斯自由派和白宫决策者眼中的白衣骑士,变成了莫斯科的“核战争狂人”。

数千公司董事在工党税改后离开英国

FT的分析发现,从去年10月到上月,有3790名公司董事报告离开英国,阿联酋成为首选目的地。
设置字号×
最小
较小
默认
较大
最大
分享×