Going green: Environmental policies discussed

Conference discussed environmental challenges faced by Pakistan

LAHORE: Prime Minister’s Focal Person for Environment Syed Rizwan Mahboob has said the government would give preference to academic research while shaping environmental policies and concrete steps were being taken to tackle environmental challenges.

He was addressing the first-ever international conference on “Emerging Trends in Earth and Environmental Sciences (ETEES) 2017” organised by Punjab University’s College of Earth and Environmental Sciences (CEES) on Thursday.

Addressing the inaugural session, Rizwan said there were three types of experts conducting research on environment and one predicted doomsday scenario in near future, one segment of researchers termed it a mere hoax and exaggeration while one type of experts was working on empirical evidences and we must focus on the research work of these researchers.

He said Pakistan was facing four serious environment challenges including deforestation, suffering of agricultural land, water scarcity/non-availability of potable water and growing energy demand which was affecting our environment.

“We must work on green energy options and focus on disaster risk management. The government is taking steps for improving environment conditions and now we have Climate Change Act,” he said.

Punjab University Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Zafar Mueen Nasir urged the students to focus on research and development and PU administration would extend full support in this regard.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 10^th, 2017.