Meeting the challenge : National alliance formed to fight climate change

Will provide scientific, technical support to public, private sector organisations

ISLAMABAD: An alliance comprising civil society organisations, academics, businessmen and representatives from various industries has been formed to address the issue of climate change.

The development, led by Sustainable Development Centre, took place following a consultative workshop hosted by the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) here on Thursday.

The “Pakistan Panel on Climate Change” will provide scientific and technical support to public and private sector organisations.

Participants of the workshop were unanimous that climate governance needed science-based knowledge support from civil society organisations and academia.

Ministry of Water and Power former secretary and the IPS-National Academic Council Member, Mirza Hamid Hasan, in his welcome speech, observed that the impact of climate change was enormous, while the response from the government and the civil society seemed slow.

He also stressed the need to review agriculture policy and introduce temperature and drought-resistant crops to cater to changing climate pattern.

Environmentalist Malik Amin Aslam stressed the need for such a forum and the importance of a holistic and collective approach to deal with the impacts of climate change in the country.

He said that Pakistan was highly vulnerable to climate change as 90 per cent disasters in the country were triggered by climatic variants.

He stressed upon the need that federal and provincial governments should proactively devise strategies by incorporating climate-resilient design in the development process.

Planning Commission of Pakistan Member Dr Tahir Hijazi said that promotion of renewable technologies and enhancing forest cover would bring significant contribution to attain the goals set under the Paris agreement.

Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry Vice President Zafar Bakhtawari and Environment Committee Chairman Gulzar Firoz maintained that trade and industry should be fully engaged in climate response strategies.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 15^th, 2016.