KARACHI: Environment experts, lawyers, social and political leaders at a climate conference titled ‘Global capitalism: responsible for environmental disasters’ on Monday said that international capitalism is responsible for the huge destruction due to climate change and environmental degradation.

At the event, organised by National Trade Union Federation (NTUF) and Home-Based Women Workers Federation (HBWWF) at the Arts Council of Pakistan here, people directly affected due to the recent floods also participated and briefed the audience about their problems.

Dr Miriam Sagg, the legal director of the European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), Germany said that the climate crises have been caused by multiple actors. “We will see that the ‘polluter-pays-principle’ is applied when dealing with the climate devastation,” she said.

Faisal Edhi of the Edhi Foundation said that the recent floods were the worst in the history of Pakistan, directly affecting 35 million people and indirectly affecting millions others.

Pakistan should demand for reparations for damages under climate crisis and for debt cancellation, not help, says German political scientist

He said that the government of Pakistan and the global community has failed not only to correctly assess the losses, but also in providing timely assistance to the affected people. “The government and global community have left the millions of affected people, especially women and children, neglected and ignored. They are deprived of basic needs such as food, water and medicines. Now, we have winter coming and it would create another human tragedy,” he said.

NTUF General Secretary Nasir Mansoor said that the model capital mode of progress has created a big threat for the survival of life on Earth. He said that ‘capitalist economy’ is another name for ‘environmental terrorism’.

“For the last 150 years, the capitalist countries with unbridled use of fossil fuels have threatened life on Earth. Due to energy obtained from gas, oil and coal, very high carbon emissions have raised global temperature to alarming levels, hardly hitting the natural environment,” he said.

“Floods, earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis, melting of glaciers, rise in sea levels, pandemics and heat waves all are the result of these climate changes affecting billions of people. The capitalist system has made the people its salaried slaves. It has occupied the resources of nations, pushed the people to dreadful wars and now it is bent on destroying the planet altogether.” he added.

Dr Noman Ahmed of NED University said that the environment, climate change and progress are interrelated. He said that economic progress is aimed at making more capital, more investment and further consumerism.

“The West attained a big achievement in production and progress, but without any checks and balances. The cruel use of resources would be harmful for life on Earth. Due to climate change, food crisis, poverty and inequality of wealth are further rising in Pakistan. Urbanisation is spreading fast as a huge population in the cities live in the slums. The forest cover is shrinking fast while further damaging the environment and ecology. Progress should be linked to sustainable environment to benefit communities,” he said.

Dr Riaz Ahmed of Szabist said that even though the situation was not great in the past, it’s worse now and there’s no hope of betterment in the future as the state did not care about ordinary citizens. “We should have to fight ourselves for our rights as the state and government would never give us our due rights,” he said.

Dr Asghar Dashti from Urdu University said that the planet’s system is changing fast and it has created immense challenges for the survival of mankind.

“Vested interests of capitalism are linked to climate change and this problem could not be resolved in isolation. Capitalist experts, scientists and the corporate media are fooling people. The Khirthar and Hingol national parks are facing immense dangers due to the land mafia. There is a need for a global climate movement,” he said.

HBWWF’s general secretary Zehra Khan said that the wrong policies of the countries of the global north and international corporations have created huge danger for the people of Global South.

“These countries and transnational corporations and their greed for more and more profits are responsible for environmental terrorism. To save humanity both the global north and south should have to wage a collective struggle,” she said, adding that her institution was consulting with affected people, political and social leaders and legal experts for initiating litigation in German courts against the states and organisations involved in climate crimes.

While speaking online, Thomas Rudhof-Seibert, a German political activist and philosopher, said that the catastrophe, which devastated Pakistan this year, is a result of the so called ‘climate crisis’.

“Pakistan is not responsible for that crisis. Also Somalia, suffering not a flood, but a drought, is not responsible for climate crisis. Also all the countries of the Global South suffering floods and droughts are not responsible for climate crisis. But all of these countries are suffering not only due to the climate crisis, they are also suffering under the global debt crisis,” he said.

He further said that what this double burden means the countries responsible for the global climate and the global debt crisis are instead the countries of the Global North such as Germany and the USA.

“The Pakistani government should not be asking for help. The Pakistani government should demand both for reparations for damages under the climate crisis, and for the cancellation of its debt,” he said.

Women Rights Activist Mahnaz Rehman, Sabhagi Bheel of Sindh Agriculture General Workers Union, journalist Amar Guriro and several flood affected people Mujeeb Pirzado, Inayat Leghari, Ruqqaya Nazar and Fouzia Gulnawaz also spoke.

Published in Dawn, November 15th, 2022