“This [climate change] is a reality that must be faced,” said Iqbal. PHOTO: FILE
The Climate Change Division (CCD) has set out 10 project initiatives to move forward on delivering the National Climate Change Policy.
A report titled “Work Programme for Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation in Pakistan: Priority Actions” was launched on Monday at the Planning Commission to implement the projects in partnership with LEAD Pakistan. The Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN) is funding the initiatives to help the government cope with climate change issues, thus promoting climate compatible development in Pakistan.
Planning and Development Secretary Hassan Nawaz Tarar, Climate Change Secretary Raja Hasan Abbas, LEAD Pakistan CEO Ali Tauqeer Sheikh, LEAD Pakistan Senior Adviser on Climate Change Dr Qamar Zaman Chaudhry, Climate Change Division Environment DG Muhammad Irfan Tariq and Dr Ishfaq Ahmed witnessed the report launch.
“While the climate change policy expresses the commitment of the Government of Pakistan to achieve climate-resilient development, these priority actions will assist Pakistan in moving towards the development of an improved evidence base of the impacts of climate change that the country is facing,” Sheikh said.
Endorsing the report, Tarar said, “Development has to be resilient, but more importantly it has to be responsible. These priority actions will assist us in taking ownership of responsible development and give us a guideline to implement them with our internal resources”.
“Implementation of this report is even more significant now, when climate change has become an unavoidable reality for Pakistan and is beginning to manifest itself through increasing intensity,” he said.
He said that dealing with climate change was no longer a choice for the country, but rather an imperative.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 4th, 2014.
COMMENTS (3)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
1724238420-0/Untitled-design-(3)1724238420-0-165x106.webp "article")
1731678234-0/pete-(1)1731678234-0-165x106.webp "article")
Interesting, I've heard this before. It's strange when the people who are not experts in climate change make such decisions. This is a big commitment, I wonder how this will follow through.