Four climate ministry departments without permanent heads

Six months on, FPSC fails to conduct interviews of candidates shortlisted for EPA director general slot

ISLAMABAD: At least four departments of the Ministry of Climate Change have been functioning without permanent heads for an extended period of time.

Meanwhile, work at the Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (Pak-EPA) has almost come to a standstill due to the lack of a permanent head.



“The Ministry of Climate Change had forwarded the names of five shortlisted candidates to the Federal Public Service Commission for test and interviews for the slot of the EPA director general, but no progress has been made in hiring despite a lapse of six months,” an official in the ministry told The Express Tribune on the condition of anonymity.

“Such lethargic attitude and delays without any cogent reason are hampering activities of the environment body,” he said adding that the delay has pushed vital decisions and issues related to the environment on the back burner.

The official said that climate ministry’s three other departments — the Global Change Impact Studies Centre, the Zoological Survey of Pakistan and the Pakistan Environmental Planning and Architectural Consultants — were also being on an ad-hoc basis with unrelated officials holding additional charge of top slots.

The Pak-EPA’s director general slot was being run by ministry’s environment wing Director General Irfan Tariq as additional head after the former DG moved to head the South Asia Cooperative Environment Programme in Sri Lanka.



“In practical, the Pak-EPA has become a rudderless body right now and environmental violators feel free to do whatever they want in the absence of an active environmental watchdog,” an official at the Pak-EPA said.

Moreover, the Global Climate Impact Study Centre, the research arm of the climate ministry, was being run on an ad-hoc basis since the retirement of its executive director Dr Ishfaq Ahmed several years ago.

The centre has an important role in capacity-building, policy analysis and information dissemination on issues related to climatic change issues. The centre also assesses the impact of climate change on key socio-economic sectors such as water, food, agriculture, energy, forestry, health, ecology and recommends adaptation and mitigation measures.

The Zoological Survey of Pakistan, another important wing of the climate ministry, has also been functioning without a permanent head since 2008. From 2008 to 2013, it was run either by deputationists or officers with additional charge.



Similarly, the Pakistan Environmental Planning and Architectural Consultants, set up by the government in 1974 as a consultancy firm for planning and designing urban infrastructure, the architectural design of buildings and structural and environmental engineering, has also been functioning without a permanent head for three years.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 24^th, 2016.