Despite disaster, climate action is lacking | D+C - Development + Cooperation

Pakistan was the country most affected by climate-related extreme weather events worldwide in 2022, according to the latest Climate Risk Index (CRI), which is published by the German civil-society organisation Germanwatch. The index analysed more than 170 nations around the world. Pakistan topped the list mainly because of its “exceptionally high relative economic losses”. Germanwatch acknowledges, however, that the country’s economic losses were also high in absolute terms, as was the number of affected people. 

In 2022, Pakistan was devastated by floods, landslides and storms due to a heavy monsoon season that resulted in  torrential rainfall. The 2022 floods are considered the worst in the country’s history. They affected more than 33 million people, cost more than 1700 lives and caused economic damages of nearly $ 15 billion, Germanwatch writes with reference to data from the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters. Post-flood challenges included a lack of drinking water, a rise in water-borne diseases, malaria outbreaks and skin infections.