UNITED NATIONS: Climate-induced floods. Devastation. Appeal for international help. These things would be the main focus of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s address to the United Nations General Assembly today (Friday), as he makes his debut on the world stage.

He is the 12th speaker in the 193-member assembly’s high-level debate on its fourth day in which some 140 world leaders are participating. It is the first in-person session of the assembly following the Covid-19 pandemic.

The prime minister has been briefing world leaders and heads of financial bodies on the floods that have inundated one-third of Pakistan, inflicting huge damage to human lives, infrastructure, livestock and crops.

“Pakistan is passing through difficult times and the havoc wreaked by floods, which is obvious before the world, needs serious attention,” he said in his video statement on Wednesday.

Some world leaders have responded by making dramatic appeals to the international community to come forward and help Pakistan.

Opening the debate on Tuesday, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who made a solidarity visit to Pakistan earlier this month, told world leaders that Pakistan is “drowning not only in floodwaters but in debt.”

On Wednesday, the UN chief went on to say at a private meeting with world leaders on climate change, “We have all seen the appalling images from Pakistan, and this is just at 1.2 degrees of global warming and we are heading for over 3 degrees.”

US President Joe Biden in his address to the UNGA said: “Pakistan is still underwater and needs help.”

On his part, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, expressing his condolences, said: “We would like to call out to the international community to help the people of Pakistan as they’re going through this most unfortunate and painful time.”

Similarly, many other world leaders have drawn attention to the floods in Pakistan.

Following Guterres’ trip to Pakistan, the UN issued a $160 million flash appeal to help Pakistan cope with the initial phases of the calamity, but so far it is not yet fully funded.

In his address, the PM would also underscore the need for the resolution of the Kashmir dispute, one of the oldest items on the agenda of the UN Security Council, and reaffirm Pakistan’s principled stand on the issue.

This year’s UNGA is taking place against a backdrop of complex, interconnected crises. Conflict, climate change, and Covid-19 have exacerbated inequality, poverty, and hunger across the planet, particularly among the most vulnerable populations.