Caroline Lucas MP, Green Party leader, has urged the European Commission to increase aid to Pakistan, amidst the continuing flood disaster.
The UN is set to hold an emergency session to boost international aid to flood-hit Pakistan. The international response has been slow, and the UN says it has raised only half of the $460m (£295m) needed for initial flood relief efforts.
The size of the area affected by the disaster is now equivalent to Belgium, Austria, and Switzerland combined.
Fewer than a million of the eight million people in urgent need have received basic supplies such as tents or plastic sheeting. As well, tens of thousands of villages remain under water.
Green Party leader Caroline Lucas said: "I join Oxfam in urging the European Commission president, José Manuel Barroso, to dramatically increase the EU's contribution to address the crisis in Pakistan. 14 million people have been affected so far, and one-third of the country is underwater. Aid agencies say eight million people are in need of immediate assistance, but many have received no aid at all."
Greens urge stronger action to tackle climate change
As well as addressing the immediate crisis, the Green Party is keen to draw attention to the views of the world's scientific community that climate change is leading to the greater frequency and severity of extreme weather events leading to crises like the one currently devastating Pakistan. A party spokesperson commented today, "The UK government and the EU are not doing anywhere near enough to push for effective science-based targets and the policies we need to implement to deliver them.
"Britain should be leading the world on this - if only because no-one else is. Both the parties in the coalition government have gone out of their way to portray themselves as green, yet now they're in government they have simply failed to take the urgent and radical action that they need to.
"Instead of a Thatcherite policy of cuts aimed at reducing the size of government, they should be pursuing a Green policy of massive investment to transform our economy to reduce our carbon emissions. The deficit is an important, but climate change is far bigger, its consequences far more devastating, and its effects will extend much further into the future if we don't prioritise it now.
"And let's remember that the policies for radically cutting our carbon emissions will also deliver a more stable economy, warmer homes, huge numbers of sustainable jobs, much better public transport, an end to fuel poverty and the start of a new era of energy security."