The Ministry of Climate Change and Environmental Coordination (MoCC and EC), with support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Global Shield Secretariat, concluded the validation session of Pakistan’s Global Shield stock-take and gap analysis of climate, disaster risk finance and insurance (CDRFI).
According to UN Information Centre Islamabad report on Saturday, with shrinking global development finance and Pakistan’s increasing vulnerability to climate change, conventional funding alone is insufficient to achieve climate resilience. The Global Shield aims to address these challenges by providing pre-arranged, trigger-based financing to mitigate climate and disaster-related risks.
At COP27, Pakistan was recognized as one of the pathfinder countries. This led to the initiation of the in-country process which will now culminate into Pakistan submitting a request for support to scale and enhance pre-arranged finance against climate-related disasters. To facilitate this process, UNDP in collaboration with MoCC and EC, conducted seven consultations across Pakistan, engaging 250 public and private sector stakeholders to assess current and planned CDRFI initiatives and identify key gaps. The final validation session in Islamabad brought together government officials, development partners, and private sector representatives to review the findings of the gap analysis.
Speaking at the session, Coordinator to the Prime Minister on Climate Change, Ms. Romina Khursheed Alam, said ‘We must avail all the opportunities available to Pakistan to tap into the resources that can strengthen our financial resilience against climate change. We believe that the Global Shield against Climate Risks offers an excellent opportunity for Pakistan to address its climate and disaster risk financing needs’.
Ms. Van Nguyen, Deputy Resident Representative, UNDP, thanked the MoCC and EC for trusting UNDP to conduct this process and said, ‘The success of the Global Shield initiative in Pakistan depends on the engagement of all stakeholders present today. We have the collective expertise and commitment in this room to ensure that Pakistan develops robust, scalable risk finance solutions to protect the most vulnerable from future climate shocks.’
The validation session was a key achievement in substantiating Pakistan’s request for CDRFI support. Mr. Daniel Stadtmueller, Team Lead Global Shield Implementation, also reaffirmed Global Shield’s support in providing tailored financial solutions to Pakistan to bridge existing gaps in disaster risk finance and insurance, enabling it to better prepare for future crises.
At the event, Ms. Aisha Humera, Secretary MoCC and EC, highlighted the critical role of the Global Shield initiative in addressing Pakistan’s climate vulnerabilities while Dr. Sebastian Paust, Head of Development Cooperation, Embassy of Germany, reaffirmed Germany’s support for Pakistan under the Global Shield initiative, ensuring equitable access to disaster risk financing solutions.
UNDP and the Global Shield are committed to supporting Pakistan in strengthening the financial resilience of vulnerable communities as part of country’s broader policy towards sustainable development.
