Pakistan

Global consultation: Citizens deliberate on climate and energy

From Fiji to the US, at least 100 citizens at each location discus climate change

News Desk June 09, 2015

From Fiji to the US, at least 100 citizens at each location discus climate change. PHOTO: AFP

Residents of the twin cities attended a daylong meeting to deliberate on issues of climate and energy.

The “World Wide Views on Climate and Energy” debate in Pakistan was inaugurated by Federal Minister for Climate Change Mushahidullah Khan and Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) founder Tariq Banuri.

The debate was hosted by COMSATS University.

SDPI Executive Director Dr Abid Suleri welcomed guests and described the debate as an exercise to “learn from stakeholders and people”.

Banuri gave a brief history of destruction of ecosystems by human beings and gave the reference that more than 50 percent of world’s forests are gone.

The federal minister took credit on behalf of the PML-N government
for launching the Islamabad-Rawalpindi Metro Bus
Service on World Environment Day.

He pointed out that the buses have energy efficient (Euro II) engines, thus saving on fossil fuels.

After the inaugural session, debates began with citizens being divided into small groups.

The event turned out to be the largest global citizen consultation on climate change.

Beginning at dawn in Fiji and ending at dusk in Arizona, at least 100 citizens at each location discussed issues of climate change and voted on an identical set of questions.

The event was organised jointly by SDPI and Centre for Climate Research and Development, with support from the Embassy of France.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 10^th, 2015.

COMMENTS (1)

Dr. Mahmood | 9 years ago | Reply Yes, it was a good initiative, not an effort to take global citizens opinions but also a forceful show of global concerns and solidarity on climate change & energy issues. Documentaries shown prior to discussion/responding to each set of questions were interesting as well as easy to comprehend but on times seems somewhat biased and creating an expression of promoting some of the options which were to be chosen by the global citizens, in response to the follow up questions. Choosing an option (from among the given 4-6 options) on these issues in a global context could have been difficult, both for the citizens from developed and developing countries, in view of vastly different ground realities on the same issues. May be in future, having two different sets of “Questionnaire”, one each for the developed and developed countries, would be more appropriate and realistic. It is hoped that the overall assessment/findings of this, otherwise very exciting and interesting, activity would be considered keeping in view the above limitations. Best wishes Dr. Mahmood, Islamabad. Pakistan

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