Guterres blames developed countries for Pakistan floods: “It’s collective suicide”.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has urged UN member countries to offer “immediate assistance” to Pakistan to help it recover from the effects of the floods that have affected the region for months, appealing that the country is “less to blame than other nations” for the effects of climate change.

“Pakistan and other developing countries, from the Horn of Africa to the Sahel, are paying an appalling price for the intransigence of big emitters who continue to bet on fossil fuels,” the UN secretary general told a press conference after meeting Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

Guterres argued that the world “owes impoverished Pakistan “enormous help” to recover from the devastating floods, as global warming would have contributed to the deluge that has left a third of the country under water.

“From Pakistan, I make a global appeal: stop the madness, stop the war with nature. We must invest in renewable energy now,” stressed the UN secretary general.

“Even today, emissions are rising as people die in floods and famines. This is madness. This is collective suicide,” he added, recalling that Pakistan is just one of many countries that are “not nearly prepared” for natural catastrophes of the sort.

All in all, Guterres expressed his solidarity with the Pakistani people and reiterated that the UN will do “everything possible” to mobilize the international community in support of Pakistan.

To this end, the United Nations has urged member states to provide the financial and technical means for the Asian country to “survive” extreme weather phenomena such as “these deadly floods.”

The UN has already delivered food aid, as well as economic aid and emergency supplies worth ten million euros, the agency detailed in a statement.

UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths has announced that the UN has released seven million euros from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to bolster emergency aid in Pakistan.

Added to the disbursement of the three million provided last month, the total amount comes to ten million.

“The funds will help prevent waterborne diseases and epidemics and provide nutritional supplements, safe drinking water and reproductive health care to the most vulnerable people, as well as livestock feeding,” the UN’s humanitarian affairs office has detailed in a missive.