Faiza Tehseen

Pakistan needs a national taskforce to coordinate effective climate actions. It will increase public awareness about climate impacts and strengthen the country’s climate resilience, opined Muhammad Saleem, media spokesperson for the Ministry of Climate Change and Environmental Coordination (MoCC&EC), in an exclusive discussion with WealthPK.

“Owing to the intensifying climate impacts, Pakistan is facing the mounting challenges of long-term environmental degradation, and extreme weather events including heatwaves and floods. To address these challenges, the taskforce will act as a bridge between the govt policy mechanism and stake holders,” he said. On the Global Climate Risk Index, Pakistan is found in the list of countries most vulnerable to climate change.

The melting of Himalayan glaciers and changing weather patterns are leading to unpredictable monsoons and frequent droughts, increase in temperature, ecosystem degradation, and frequent heatwaves.   “By keeping in view all these issues, Pakistan’s climate action strategies must be more organized, sustainable, and integrated. To ensure their implementation, the climate taskforce will function as the central body to monitor and bring awareness among the relevant stakeholders.

To develop data-driven, collaborative approach, the task force will smartly bring together representatives from multiple sectors belonging to both public and private departments,” Saleem said. Talking about the important role of volunteers, he said volunteers were providing an invaluable support and bringing awareness among the public about climate change impacts. Globally, over one billion people are volunteering their services to help address climate change impacts.

Followed by Africa, Asia and Pacific are leading in monthly volunteers. Comparatively, Central Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean, report rather lower rates.  “A United Nations Population Fund report indicates that 64% of Pakistan's population is under 29, and despite facing unemployment, most of them are determined to volunteerism. The role of the youth and volunteers in addressing climate change will foster greater public participation and advance the national climate agenda,” Saleem told WealthPK.

He said Pakistan needed passionate local volunteers to work with the international ones, performing climate related services. There is a dire need to take an active role in promoting volunteerism among the youth. It is crucial to shape a positive narrative for the country, highlighting its green initiatives to cut its contribution to global carbon emissions. He said, “The government has announced to form a volunteer climate task force for environmental actions, raising awareness concerning climatic issues, and community engagements.

The government will fully support organizing volunteer programs and building partnerships with various stakeholders to strengthen the impact of the climate taskforce, environmental sustainability and green Pakistan.”  Advocating the need to form the climate task force on an official or volunteer basis, Dr. Muhammad Akbar, an environmental scientist from Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), told WealthPK, “The task force will be instrumental in launching smart climate actions to build resilience against climate change impacts and to reduce the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.”

He said the establishment of a dedicated task force was key to developing climate resilient infrastructure, flood resistant housing nad sustainable water management, promoting eco-friendly urban planning and climate smart farming, conserving the natural resources, facilitating climate finance and public-private partnerships for climate adaptation programs, as well as raising climate literacy and public awareness.

“The establishment of a climate task force will also be helpful in aligning Pakistan’s global commitments under the Paris agreement and its national climate plan. The task force can also work with regional and international organizations to initiate cross-border climate initiatives,” he added.

Credit: INP-WealthPk