Climate reparations ethical but not best fix: Climatologist

Displaced people in floodwater after heavy monsoon rain at Usta Mohammad city, in the Jaffarabad district of Balochistan province, on Sept. 18, 2022. Thirty-three million people have been affected by the floods in Pakistan, which started with the arrival of the monsoon in late June.

Fida Hussain | Afp | Getty Images

Calls for climate reparations for poorer countries hit hard by climate change are growing louder after catastrophic floods in Pakistan. But though they may be ethical, they aren’t the best solution to a complex problem, one climatologist said.

“[Climate reparations are] the ethical thing to do,” said Friederike Otto, a climatologist at the University of Oxford, “but a more equitable world is much better able to solve the complex crises we deal with. If all parts of society are involved in decision-making, ultimately everyone will be better off.”

Pakistan’s floods have killed nearly 1,700 so far. They’ve also resulted in at least $30 billion in economic losses, according to government estimates.

Thirty-three million people have been affected by the floods, which started with the arrival of the monsoon in late June, and were caused in part by melting glaciers. More than a third of the country is under water.

Cities are largely to blame for climate change. Could they also be part of the solution?

Not a straightforward solution

Floods in Pakistan are a 'predictable disaster' that will happen again, says United Nations
Pakistan struggles in the wake of historic floods

The U.N. representative urged rich countries to consider debt relief and debt swaps as one of the tools to alleviate the financial costs incurred by affected countries. “Countries with debts to countries impacted by climate change can give relief on this debt in exchange for the countries investing in climate adaptation actions,” he said.

Andrew King, a senior lecturer at the University of Melbourne, is another proponent of climate reparations. It is “unfair” for nations who have contributed little to the problems of climate change to bear the brunt of its impact, he said. 

Such countries have less “adaptive capacity” to climate change and less resilience to current extremes, so support is needed to ease the burden they face, he told CNBC.  

‘There will be more Pakistans’

Climate crisis is happening at a pace more significant than anticipated: U.S. government agency

A better way forward?

Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/05/climate-reparations-ethical-but-not-best-fix-climatologist.html