No tangible steps taken in 2016

Govt took policy initiatives to address climate change, but didn’t translate into practice

ISLAMABAD: Despite some major initiatives taken by government at policy level to deal with climate change issues, the country remained under severe stress of climate change challenges during 2016.

The series of events including global warming, irregular rain patterns with extreme weather conditions, besides long dry spells due to shifting weather patterns remained a constant cause for concern for the country.

One such case of a similar extreme event was when seven people were killed and over 90 injured in the wake of powerful windstorm and rain which wreaked havoc in the twin cities in June this year.

Pakistan, along with other 120 other countries, also ratified Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in November.

The PML-N government, however, took some major initiatives at the policy level to address climate change issues, including, launching of 100 million tree plantation drive under Prime Minister’s Green Pakistan Programme (GPP). The project was the brainchild of the prime minister, aimed to revive and boost forest cover besides taking steps for conservation of wildlife.

The Ministry of Climate Change, however, failed to take tangible steps for implementation and pacing up the project Green Pakistan Project (GPP).

The cabinet had approved the climate change bill in November under which a Pakistan Climate Change Council would be established. The body would be a high climate change decision-making body which will either be chaired by the prime minister or a person nominated by him. It would also be responsible for implementing the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris agreement.

Moreover all provinces, ministries and divisions except for the Azad Kashmir (AJK) government failed to come up with action plans to tackle climate change issues under the national climate change policy(NCCP).

Provinces, relevant ministries and divisions had been asked to submit their short, medium and long-term plans spelling out adaptation measures and ways and means to tackle climate change issues at the first meeting of the National Climate Change Policy Implementation Committee (NCCPIC) two years back but nothing could be witnessed on ground.

The government also established an endowment fund of Rs250 million for protection and conservation of migratory birds including houbara bustard which was appreciated by wildlife conservators and zoologists at large. The ad hoc ism continued in Ministry of Climate Change as its three allied departments including, Zoological Survey Department(ZSB), Pakistan Environmental Planning and Architectural Consultant (PEPAK), Global Change Impact Study Centre (GCIS) were operating without an official head which affected things badly.

The Pak-EPA remained a passive spectator and environmental violators felt free to do whatever they wanted in the absence of an active environmental watchdog.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 2^nd, 2017.