Protecting environment: Senate panel suggests ban on plastic bags, bottles

Standing committee approves Pakistan Environmental Protection (Amendment) Bill

ISLAMABAD: A Senate body has recommended a complete ban on manufacturing and use of plastic grocery bags, one of the major environmental pollutants, in Islamabad.

Senate Standing Committee on Climate Change has also recommended the government to ban use of plastic bottles being used by soft drinks manufacturers in the country.

The senators said that the plastic bags, which are being manufactured in Islamabad’s industrial areas, were contributing to the environmental degradation in the capital, along with the trashed plastic bottles.

The committee, which met under the chairmanship of Senator Muhammad Yousaf Badini, unanimously passed the Pakistan Environmental Protection (Amendment) Bill, 2015. Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed had moved the bill.

Federal Secretary Ministry of Climate Change Arif Ahmed Khan told the committee that the ministry was working to include the climate change subject in the school and university curricula.

He said the ministry had written letters to higher education institutes and provincial education ministers. Two provinces, he said, had prepared the climate change curriculum.

Khan said the ministry had also directed the Beaconhouse as well as the Roots school systems to include the subject in their curricula.

Climate Change Minister Zahid Hamid briefed the committee about the Paris climate change summit. He said Pakistan’s delegation highlighted the climate change threat facing the country and the proposed plan of action to counter it. Hamid said Pakistan had also called upon the developed nations to support the countries that are underdeveloped and affected by the climate change.

He said the developed countries were largely responsible for the greenhouse gas emissions and it’s them who needed to do more to mitigate it.

The minister said that the government had constituted a study commission for implementation of Paris climate change agreement. The commission will determine the country’s greenhouse gas reduction targets, he said.

Hamid said that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had directed the departments concerned to increase the country’s forest cover. The ministry, he said, is working with provinces for this.

The body has also suggested running a campaign on Pakistan Television to raise public awareness of climate change.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 29^th, 2015.