Paris climate conference: Plead our case effectively, says minister

Mushahidullah asks officials to work closely with provinces.

ISLAMABAD:

Federal Minister for Climate Change Mushahidullah Khan has directed senior officials of his ministry to closely coordinate with the provincial governments and all stakeholders to put forward a strong climate-vulnerability case at the United Nations’ global climate conference.

A delegation comprising climate experts, policymakers, planners, scientists and researchers, will present Pakistan’s case at the conference, the minister told an inter-ministerial meeting held here on Wednesday.

He said that though Pakistan was not a major contributor in global carbon emissions, it was ranked third among top 10 most climate vulnerable countries and worst-affected by the negative impacts of climate change.

“Pakistan must attend the conference with a strong message for the rich nations to compensate for the damages they have caused to the environment by continuing the trajectory of carbon emissions,” the minister told the participants.

The meeting discussed preparations for the conference of parties to the UN convention on climate change to be held in Paris, France, from November 30 to December 11, 2015.

Khan, who will head the delegation, urged representatives of various ministries and departments to explore potential funding channels to meet respective boarding and lodging expenses for participation in the conference as part of the national delegation.

He also urged the participants that the delegation in support with other developing countries, oppose everything in the possible agreement, which might come out of the conference that made it binding on Pakistan and other developing countries anything that they were not responsible for and had to be compensated by the developed countries.

Under the new global climate agreement, the 198 participating countries are expected to agree to a target of capping carbon emissions to keep the rise in global temperature below two degree Celsius above pre-industrial level that will come into force after 2020 and will replace the Kyoto Protocol.

The participants appreciated the ministry for insisting upon provincial governments to nominate officials to be part of the delegation.

This will help highlight climate vulnerabilities of all provinces, particularly Sindh and Gilgit-Baltistan at the global level and boost Pakistan’s overall climate vulnerability case.

Climate Change Ministry secretary Arif Ahmed Khan, said that Pakistan was closely engaged in the negotiations process on the upcoming global climate agreement to be reached at the conference.

Meanwhile, Director-General, Environment and Climate Change, Sajjad Ahmed Bhutta told the participants that Pakistan’s position for reaching a balanced global climate agreement was closely coordinated with the like-minded group of countries.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 8^th, 2015.