ISLAMABAD, Oct 19 (APP): The government is fully committed to make sustainable development to cope with climatic challenges and taking several initiatives to achieve the target, Federal Minister for Law, Justice and Climate Change Zahid Hamid said here on Wednesday.
A three-day conference on ‘Water and Environment for Sustainable Development in Changing Climate’ organized by the Ministry of Climate Change in collaboration with IBRA and IDA (The world Bank Group) and Water Environment Forum (WEF) beside others.
While addressing the conference, the Minister said that ongoing and future activities in various areas of environment, including organizational structure, constitutional amendments being carried out by the government in climate change policy.
“Pakistan needs further funds of about 14 billion dollars to cope with the climate change challanges and political support for acheiving goals of sustainable development”, the Minister said.
He stated that the tovernment was giving utmost priority by launching campaign for forestry and tree plantation in all provinces of the country under Green Pakistan Programme. More than 100 million sapling will be planted in the country through this programme.
The Minister recalled devastating havoc of floods of 2010 and 2011 in Pakistan, which triggered displacement of about 20 million people as well as nearly 10 billion dollars economic losses, and highlighted that Pakistan is located in one of the most dangerous climate affected zones of the world and has been declared as world’s 8th most affected county.
“Climate change threats to Pakistan are considerable in frequency and intensity of extreme weather events coupled with erratic monsoon rains causing floods and droughts” he added.
He said, “Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif’s Vision 2025” reflects the committment for the country’s development needs and priorities.
Chairman Higher Education Commission (HEC) Prof. Dr Mukhtar Ahmed and Chief Executive Officer Mountain Glacier Protection Organization Aysha Khan, Altaf Ali Sayal Pak-US center and Iftikhar Ahmed from University of Balochistan also spoke on the occasion.
