Govt to keep provinces on board for national climate policy implementation: Amin Aslam

ISLAMABAD, Oct 17 (APP):Advisor to Prime Minister on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam Khan Wednesday said the federal government will keep all the provinces on board to ensure effective implementation of national climate change policy.
He said this while chairing 6th meeting of National Climate Change Policy Implementation Committee (NCCPIC) here at the ministry.
Federal Secretary of Climate Change Shahrukh Nusrat, Additional Secretary Khurram Ali Agha, provincial representatives and senior officials from MoFA, Planning Division, industries and production, finance, national food security, meteorological department, NDMA, ENERCON was also present in the meeting, a press release said.
The meeting was convened to discuss and oversee the progress on the implementation of national climate change policy by the provinces and federal departments.
Representatives from federal and provincial governments shared their progress on implementation agenda through detailed presentations.
Punjab representative, apprised the chair regarding smog emergency and measures adopted by the Punjab government to counter this menace.
The advisor to prime minister said he had two meetings with Punjab chief minister and other stakeholders on smog issue.
Punjab government has established 11 monitoring units to evaluate the intensity of the smog round the clock, he added.
He said special health counters have also been established in main hospitals to treat smog affectees on preferential basis. “We will also monitor level of smog coming from our neighbor country and we are also negotiating with them through MoFA to keep them from burning crops residues in bordering regions.”
The advisor said implementation of smog commission’s recommendations is on its way and Punjab government is very much aligned with us on this issue. Bricks kiln association has been asked to stop their units from October 20 to December 31. All Other precautionary measures are also being taken to counter this imminent smog issue.
The chair was informed that climate change sections have been established in P&D departments of Punjab, Sindh and AJK and other provinces are following the suit.
Amin Aslam informed the participants that environment is a key priority agenda of our government and we are in the process of its implementation now.
The prime minister has constituted a national committee on climate change to ensure adequate implementation of our climate change objectives, he added.
He said due to mismanagement and lack of planning, we have been wasting 90% of our water. We never paid any heed towards storage of water but now we have devised comprehensive plan to store water under “Recharge Pakistan” initiative. We will store flood water in our wetlands and will use that water for agriculture and other purposes.
The advisor further said renewable energy is an opportunity window and we must get maximum benefit from this opportunity to fulfill our growing energy needs with less environmental cost.
He asked the provinces to prepare alternative energy projects and send to the ministry at the earliest. We will extend all possible support to the provinces to remove bottle necks in the implementation of their climate change projects, he added.