ISLAMABAD: United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in his opening remarks at the 77th session of the UN General Assembly, on Tuesday called on creditors to consider debt-climate adaptation swaps after deadly floods in Pakistan, which have affected 33 million people and inundated a third of the South Asian country. 

The statement came days after Guterres visited flood-hit areas of Pakistan and said the world needed to understand the impact of climate change on low-income countries. 

The deadly floods have killed more than 1,500 people, washed away livestock and crops and devastated key infrastructure in Pakistan since the onset of monsoon season in mid-June. Both the Pakistani government and Guterres have blamed the flooding on climate change. 

While saluting efforts for global cooperation in his opening speech, the UN secretary-general warned of a dire state of the planet. 

“I recently saw it with my own eyes in Pakistan where one-third of the country is submerged by a monsoon on steroids,” Guterres told world leaders at the UNGA. 

“Creditors should consider debt reduction mechanisms such as debt-climate adaptation swaps. These could have saved lives and livelihoods in Pakistan, which is drowning not only in floodwater, but in debt.”  

The UN chief suggested the lending criteria should go beyond gross domestic product and include all dimensions of vulnerability that affect developing countries. 

He said the climate crisis was the defining issue of their time: “It must be the first priority of every government and multilateral organization and yet climate action is being put on the back burner – despite overwhelming public support around the world.” 

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who is leading the country’s delegation at the UNGA, on Tuesday said on the sidelines he was going to narrate Pakistan’s “story of anguish” to the international community. 

Pakistani officials blame the recent devastation on human-driven climate change and say the country is unfairly bearing the consequences of irresponsible environmental practices elsewhere in the world.  

Pakistan is eighth on NGO Germanwatch’s Global Climate Risk Index, a list of countries deemed most vulnerable to extreme weather caused by climate change, despite contributing less than 1 percent to global carbon emissions. 

The problem of environmental degradation is said to be primarily triggered by heavy economic activities generated by developed countries, though it is mostly poor nations which bear the brunt.