Responsibility and progress: Making eco-friendly development realisable

Report launched by Climate Change Division sets forth project initiatives for an advanced, cleaner and greener future

An increased level of development in line with the prevalent neo-liberal practices comes at the cost of a healthy environment.

Although this truism has found manifestation in various forms around the world, an environment-friendly mode of development is conceivable.

To familiarise this notion, a report on ‘Work Programme for Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation in Pakistan: Priority Actions’ was launched on Monday by the Climate Change Division (CCD) in partnership with LEAD Pakistan, said a press release. The report proposes and chalks out 10 project initiatives, which will help the government deliver towards the National Climate Change Policy.

Funded by the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN), the report has been prepared to help the government achieve development priorities by employing mechanisms considerate to climate change, and to plan commercial and construction activities strategically to limit the magnitude and rate of long-term climate change.

Introducing the report, LEAD Pakistan CEO and CDKN Regional Director Ali Tauqeer Sheikh said the report will act as a yardstick for the government to incorporate eco-friendly practices into its larger development and budget planning framework.

“The climate change policy is proof of the government’s commitment to achieve non-climate-altering development. The proposed priority actions will assist future planners by providing an improved evidence base of the impacts of climate change in our regional context,” said Sheikh.

Ministry of Planning and Development Federal Secretary Hasan Nawaz Tarar said, “Development has to be resilient, but more importantly it has to be responsible. These priority actions will assist us in undertaking responsible development and give us a guideline for implementation, in conjunction with our internal resources.”

Dealing with climate change is no longer a choice for the country, he stressed, it is an issue to cope with and adapt to in the near future.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 18^th, 2014.