Climate change resilience discussed

Experts call for revising national disaster risk reduction policy

KARACHI:

The Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) organised 'Climate Action Panel Discussion' at the launch of Four Thematic Policy Position Papers. Members of the academia, civil society, journalists and business community were in attendance.

Opening the panel discussion, Deputy Executive Director, SDPI, Dr. Shafqat Munir Ahmad briefed the participants about the Four Thematic Policy Papers. He shed light on country's position on climate finance, institutional capacities for climate action, policy frameworks and the loss and damage that has been created at the global level.

He said, the crisis of climate change had no boundaries and it impacted all the nations without any distinction. However, the country is lagging in terms of effective implementation of its convincing policy instruments established to cope with the climate disasters.

He also stressed on the needed to revise the national disaster risk reduction (DRR) policy to set targets and key areas like risk understanding, governance, financing and overall framework for collaboration.

Former VP FPCCI, Member Board of Governors SDPI, Eng MA Jabbar mentioned that the increase in migration towards urban centres was burdening the existing capacities of those cities leading to economic impact driving climate and financial crisis.

Climate change affecting tools in the country, he said, were the power generation plants that had the capacity of 41,000 megawatts (MW) whereas India got 413,000 megawatts plant installed a day earlier.

He compared the Pakistan and India coal to energy potential and mentioned that Pakistan had $183 billion coal reserves which were one of the highest in the world. "But India was mining 1.2 billion tonnes of coal a year. It is producing 78 per cent energy in terms of units and 60 per cent in terms of installation from coal-fired power plants. India has developed its capacity to come out of poverty to make cheaper energy from coal back from the times when there was no limitation on coal globally."

The UN Secretary General had asked India to stop producing energy from coal but it added 6,000 MW more coal energy projects in its system," he added.

He suggested, if the country's public sector collate the recommendations from the civil society and think tanks for guiding its endeavours then its future is not bleak.

Senior Environmental Journalist, Afia Salam mentioned that there was no synergy in the ministries and departments of the country, along with that there had been no implementation of the planning decisions and policies formulated post-2010 floods.Associate Professor at the Department of International Relations, University of Karachi, Prof Dr Naeem Ahmed said, the climate change was a complex global issue transcending boundaries and damaging ecosystems and biodiversity.

Professor, Dept of Psychology University of Karachi, Dr Anila Amber Malik said, climate change was a threat to the global security that meant it is creating conflict, insecurity and instability around the world.

CEO V&H Consultants, Dr Viqar Hussain said, Pakistan lies in the high temperature zones near equator, but it has very poor databases. He mentioned that there was a non-serious attitude towards data mining and research in the public sector whereas the corporate social responsibility (CSR) was not contributed by major private entities for environmental cooperation.

Anum Hijab underlined that the country's system is still colonized like the current canal system established by the British which needs to be modified or replaced with local knowledge-based solutions.

Group Captain Riyasat said the country had reactive approach that hinders international cooperation with Pakistan on climate related interventions.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, October 17^th, 2023.