To cope with the climatic impacts, the establishment of green cities is crucial in Pakistan, opined PM's Coordinator on Climate Change & Environmental Coordination Romina Khursheed Alam while holding a meeting with United Nations Development Program (UNDP) delegation at her office. She said, “She was mobilizing resources for ongoing projects by engaging bilateral and multilateral donors including major banks to introduce Urban Environmental Initiatives and alternate energy sources in rural areas of Pakistan. 

In view of proactive communication and coordination, she emphasized on setting up a dashboard linked with PM office. It will help in reviewing the progress and address the challenges to ensure fast tracking the projects & achieve objectives.  To battle against air pollution MOCC&EC is kicking off Montreal Protocol Project nationwide in collaboration with UNDP for fixing out ozone and Hydro Chlorofluorocarbons (HCFC). This project is funded by Multilateral Fund Secretariat with budget worth $594, 748 and would be completed in 2027.

The meeting also discussed the GLOF-II project which was focusing on 10 districts of Gilgit-Baltistan and 08 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with budget worth $37 million being funded by Green Climate Fund (GCF). This project is aimed to reduce flood risks and 696,000 community members are direct beneficiaries of the project.  To combat climate change by reducing greenhouse gases emissions, the ministry is also initiating a fresh project " Promotion & Application of Sustainable Biomass Energy Technologies PASBET) in the country with cost US$ 28,724,726. This project will be completed in 2028.

To promote environmental sustainability and building climate resilience at both national and sub-national levels the ministry is working on its flagship "Climate Resilience Program". This climate promise initiative aims to enhance cooperation and resilience among local and regional stakeholders to address climate change threats and risks.  The meeting also discussed " Global Shield Against Climate Risks" Project that was aimed to increase protection for vulnerable people by providing and facilitating substantially more and better pre-arranged finance against disasters. 

While assuring her fullest support to UNDP, PM's aide Ms. Alam directed the senior officers of the ministry to convene monthly progress review meeting about these projects adding that this government under the leadership of PM was committed to make the country climate resilient.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)