LAHORE: Climate activists, farmers and trade union workers staged demos and rallies in different cities ahead of the UN General Assembly session to be held on Wednesday on existential threat posed by sea level rise, to demand $5 trillion in climate finance from the Global North, the main culprit behind climate change.

A press release issued by the Pakistan Kisan Rabita Committee here on Friday says the climate marches and rallies were organised in Gujranwala, Karachi and Shikarpur, joined by members of the Labour Qaumi Movement, PKRC, Textile Power-loom Garments Workers Union, Hari Jedojehad Committee, Pakistan Railway Workers Union, and Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum.

The participants demanded that the Global North must allocate $5 trillion in climate finance to check, if not reverse, the climate change process.

They said the rich countries, that historically owe their development to emissions of carbon, must pay their fair share to counter the climate crisis around the globe, particularly in Pakistan that’s most vulnerable in the world.

During the first half of the year, 568 people died in six days due to heat stroke in southern Pakistan, they pointed out while mentioning the climate change effect on the country.

Published in Dawn, September 21st, 2024