The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
Edited News , Press Conferences | UNDP
UNDP Press Conference: Climate Resilient Pakistan - 05 January 2023
Pakistan floods: nine million more people risk being pushed into poverty, warns UNDP
An additional nine million people risk being pushed into poverty on top of the 33 million affected by last summer’s devastating floods in Pakistan, the UN development agency, UNDP said on Thursday, ahead of next week’s International Conference on Climate Resilient Pakistan in Geneva.
“We estimate that up to around nine million people - additional people - could be pushed into poverty due to the flood impact” said Knut Ostby, UNDP Resident Representative in Pakistan.
Although the Pakistan flooding was “unprecedented”, it could happen to other countries too, Mr. Ostby warned.
He explained that crops had been lost from the last harvest and from the missed planting season. “Agricultural prices - food prices - are therefore increasing and could push, double the amount of people into food insecurity, increasing that number from seven to 14.6 million,” he continued.
Echoing those concerns, Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, Khalil Hashmi, said that some eight million of the 33 million affected by the emergency remain “acutely displaced”, as flood waters have still not receded in some areas.
Among the most urgent needs today, Ambassador Hashmi listed housing, agriculture and livelihoods. “That’s the immediate side of it and that’s the human side of it,” he insisted, ahead of the high-level conference Pakistan on Monday in the Swiss city, where Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and UN Secretary-General António Guterres are expected to attend.
Concretely, the aim of the conference is to bring together public and private sectors leaders and generate financial and international support to communities impacted by last year’s devastating floods in Pakistan, and to rehabilitate and rebuild damaged infrastructure in a climate-resilient manner.
Some $16 billion is needed to help the country’s rehabilitation and reconstruction over the long-term. “It’s not just a one-year project,” said Syed Haider Shah, head of UN division in Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, speaking via Zoom. “The needs have been further classified into four strategic recovery objectives: and they deal with the Government’s capacity-building, inclusive reconstruction, gender issues and livelihoods.”
More than 1,700 people were killed in the monsoon flooding disaster, UNDP’s Mr. Ostby said, adding that at least two million homes were destroyed and damaged, along with “13,000 or more kilometres of roads, 3,000 kilometres or more of railway tracks, 439 bridges, 4.4 million acres of agricultural land”.
Over one million livestock were also lost, the UNDP official explained, before adding that because there is still standing water in several areas, “many people cannot get back to their regular livelihoods” and therefore remain reliant on humanitarian assistance”.
ends
STORY: Pakistan Floods - UNDPTRT: 2 min 59s
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 5 January 2023, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
- Wide, UN Geneva flag alley.
- Wide, press room, podium speakers seated and Zoom speaker shown on separate TV screens.
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) Knut Ostby, UNDP Resident Representative, Pakistan: “We estimate that up to around nine million people - additional people - could be pushed into poverty due to the flood impact and there’s a fall in agricultural production; there was a loss of crops in the last season and a loss of planting in the next season and agricultural prices - food prices - are therefore increasing and could push, double the amount of people into food insecurity, increasing that number from seven to 14.6 million.”
- Wide, press conference room, UN Geneva.
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) Khalil Hashmi, Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the UN in Geneva: “Private housing, agriculture, livelihoods, that’s the immediate side of it and that’s the human side of it; it’s the people, the fact that as Knut mentioned, there’s 33 million out of that more than eight million are acutely displaced and there’s still lot of people still working through the water that in some parts of the country still persists to this day.”
- Medium, journalist taking notes, laptop on lap.
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) Knut Ostby, UNDP Resident Representative, Pakistan: “The floods impacted more than 33 million people with nearly eight million displaced and more than 1,700 people killed. Unfortunately, there is still standing water in several areas, although the water has receded in many places, so many people cannot get back to their regular livelihoods.”
- Medium, participant taking photographs with mobile phone.
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) Knut Ostby, UNDP Resident Representative, Pakistan: “More than two million homes were destroyed and damaged, along with 13,000 or more kilometres of roads, 3,000 kilometres or more of railway tracks, 439 bridges, 4.4 million acres of agricultural land and over one million livestock were lost.”
- Medium, TV screen showing all speakers in foreground, participants to rear.
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH): Syed Haider Shah, head of UN division in Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs by Zoom: “The needs have been further classified into four strategic recovery objectives: and they deal with the Government’s capacity-building, inclusive reconstruction, gender issues and livelihoods, and those objectives, these have different amounts envisaged for their reconstruction, and it is over a period of time, it’s not just a one-year project as such, we have an estimation of how to go about it.”
- Close, participants typing on laptop, checking mobile phones.
- Medium-wide, podium speakers, photographers and other participants.
- Medium, photographer crouching to take photo of speakers.
ends
STORY: Pakistan Floods – Archive B-roll Sep-Nov 2022 – Source: UNICEF
TRT: 2 min 19s
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: September – November 2022, Sindh, Balochistan, PAKISTAN
SHOTLIST
Date: 11 October
00:03 to 00:12: Aerial views, panning, flooded Sohbatpur district, Balochistan.
Date: 26 September
00:13 to 00:21: Villagers move through floodwaters on a truck pulled by a tractor in Dadu district, Sindh.
00:22 to 00:33: Views of flooded houses and fields in dadu District, Sindh.
00:34 to 00:41: A UNICEF-supported health worker arrives at a village that is isolated and doesn't have road access owing to flooding in Dadu district, Sindh.
00:41 to 00:45: Devastation caused by the floods in villages situated in Dadu District, Sindh.
Date: 3 November
00:45 to 01:14: Flooded villages in Jacobabad district, Sindh, children pushing raft carrying woman across flooded expanse, a woman walks across a flooded village carrying a baby.
Date: 27 September
01:14 to 01:18: Members of a UNICEF-supported mobile health and nutrition unit load supplies on a boat in Dadu district, Sindh.
01:18 to 01:26: Views of flooded villages in Dadu district, Sindh.
01:33 to 01:46: A woman bathes her son at a temporary camp set up for flood-affected people in Dadu district, Sindh.
01:46 to 01:53: Views of flooded villages and children wading into water in Dadu district, Sindh.
01:56 to 02:06: Roadside views of a temporary camp set up for flood-affected people on higher ground in Naseerabad district, Balochistan.
Date: 11 October
02:07 to 02:16: Drone footage of camp for displaced and flooded villages in Sohbatpur district, Balochistan where villagers cross water between houses on boat.
ends
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
No evacuation order given before Kamal Adwan Hospital strike, says WHO
One of the last partially functional health centres in northern Gaza was reportedly hit again overnight into Friday by several strikes, leaving four health workers among the casualties and the dead, according to the UN World Health Organization (WHO).
1
1
1
Press Conferences | HRC , ILO , UNCTAD , WHO , FAO , ICRC
Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva, chaired the hybrid briefing, which was attended by spokespersons and representatives from the World Health Organization, Food and Agriculture Organization, International Labour Organization, Human Rights Council, United Nations Trade and Development and International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent.
2
1
2
Edited News , Press Conferences | OCHA
More than 280,000 people have been uprooted in northwest Syria in a matter of days following the sudden and massive offensive into Government-controlled areas led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which is sanctioned by the Security Council as a terrorist group.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk has called on the Georgian authorities to respect and protect the rights to freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly following several nights of protests that were marred by violence, and dispersed using disproportionate, and in some cases unnecessary, force by the police in the capital, Tbilisi.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said today he was extremely concerned about the recent escalation in hostilities in northwest Syria, which further compounds the suffering endured by millions of civilians.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , WHO , OCHA
Syria escalation: Civilians face deadly attacks, health care in distress and aid access compromised
The ongoing escalation of violence in northwest Syria linked to the wider conflict in Gaza and Lebanon has left civilians dead and injured, hospitals “overwhelmed” and attacks on healthcare on the rise, the UN warned on Tuesday.
2
1
4
Press Conferences , Edited News | OCHA
Multiple unending conflicts, climate change and a glaring disregard for long-established international humanitarian law are set to leave a staggering 305 million people in need of lifesaving assistance next year, the UN’s top aid official warned on Wednesday.
Embargo Wednesday, 4 December 2024 at 0600 CET / 0000 ET
1
1
1
Press Conferences | UNRISD , UNHCR , IFRC , OHCHR , WHO , OCHA
Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva (UNIS), chaired a hybrid briefing, which was attended by representatives and spokespersons for the World Health Organization (WHO), the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD), and the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC).
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
The UN Rights Office on Friday warned about the plight of civilians in Ukraine after further attacks on the country’s energy infrastructure.
1
1
1
Edited News | ITU
An international panel has been set up to protect undersea communications cables that are crucial for international trade and security, the UN International Telecommunication Union (ITU) said on Friday. The creation of the International Advisory Body for Submarine Cable Resilience comes amid an ongoing investigation into the severing of two fibre optic cables in the Baltic Sea, in less than 24 hours between 17 and 18 November.
1
1
1
Press Conferences | FAO , ITU , OHCHR , WHO , UNHCR
Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva (UNIS), chaired a hybrid briefing, which was attended by the Deputy Secretary-General for the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), representatives and spokespersons for the World Health Organization (WHO), the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | ITU
An estimated 5.5 billion people have access to the internet in 2024, an increase of 227 million people based on revised estimates for 2023, the UN specialized agency for telecommunications, ITU, said on Wednesday.