Muhammad Ilyas Khan & Mudassar Iqbal
KATHMANDU(Nepal), Aug 18 (APP):Chairperson National Assembly Climate Body Munaza Hassan on Monday called for forging a regional pact of climate solidarity: to legislate together, to innovate together and to speak with one voice in global negotiations.
“The world must know—the mountains that unite us are not only our shared heritage, they are our shared line of defence and history will not forgive hesitation,” she said while speaking at a two- day Hindu Kush Himalaya Parliamentarians ‘ meet here today.
The high-level gathering brings together around 70 parliamentarians- primarily chairs, co chairs and members of the environment and climate related parliamentary committees and experts from across the Hindu Kush Himalaya (KKH) region to foster collaboration and cooperation on urgent climate, environmental and development issues.
The meets provides an effective platform for members of the Parliaments from the KKH countries to come together, across the latest knowledge and information about the KKH region’s issues, challenges and opportunities, share experiences, best practices and to discuss forward looking policy actions.
Munaza Hassan in her speech said : “
We gather here in Kathmandu in the shadow of the great Hindu Kush Himalaya, mountains that feed our rivers, shape our climate, and sustain nearly two billion lives. And yet, these mountains are bleeding ice. This is not the slow march of nature—it is an existential war being fought in real time, against forces unleashed by human hands.”
For Pakistan, she said that this war is not abstract, ” we are a frontline state of the climate crisis. In 2022, floods drowned one-third of our land, displacing 33 million people—a population larger than many nations. In 2024, heat waves scorched our plains with record temperatures, while our northern valleys endured glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) that swept away entire communities.”
In 2025, fresh GLOFs in Gilgit-Baltistan and Chitral have once again destroyed villages and vital infrastructure, while the ongoing monsoon season is unleashing destructive floods across Punjab and Sindh, submerging farmland and displacing thousands.
She said more than 300 people have died in Pakistan after days of monsoon rains triggered floods and landslides in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
At the same time, she said climate-linked droughts are crippling agriculture in Sindh and Balochistan, while smog chokes our cities.
“We have learned a brutal truth: climate change is no longer a challenge of tomorrow—it is the disaster of today, she added.
But she said Pakistan has chosen not to surrender. “We have chosen to fight—through law, through policy, through innovation. We amended our Constitution, enshrining climate as a fundamental right of every citizen—the right to breathe clean air, to drink safe water, to inherit a liveable planet.
She said Pakistan had moved from words to war-like action. In 2025, the government introduced a Carbon Levy on polluting industries—sending a clear signal that the polluter will pay, and the people will no longer subsidize their own destruction.
The chairperson of climate body said Pakistan had also accelerated the shift to electric mobility through the National EV Policy 2025–2030, setting a clear direction for clean transport.
EV uptake is rising, supported by incentives and charging infrastructure — but for Pakistan, this is part of a broader transition, not the whole story, she added.
She said renewable energy is no longer a slogan in Pakistan—it is a revolution in motion, adding that in 2025, solar has risen to provide over one-quarter of our national electricity, placing Pakistan among the rare “25% solar club.” With more than 17 gigawatts added in 2024 alone, and with wind and hydropower scaling alongside, we have nearly doubled our renewable capacity in just three years, putting clean energy at the very frontlines of our national security and economic future. Our citizens and businesses have taken the lead, propelling net-metered solar capacity past 5.3 GW by April 2025—a testament to unprecedented grassroots clean energy adoption, she added.
“We are restoring nature with ambition: the 10 Billion Tree has regenerated vast landscapes, and new protected areas are conserving biodiversity under threat. And we are building resilience: Pakistan was instrumental in creating the global Loss and Damage Fund—from leading its negotiation at COP27 to shaping its operationalization at COP28,” she added.
She said Pakistan government is financing communities to rebuild stronger after climate shocks.
But no country, however determined, can win this war alone, she said and added that the Hindu Kush Himalaya is a single ecosystem, shared by Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
” Our rivers do not stop at borders; our glaciers do not ask for visas; our air does not recognize sovereignty. We rise or fall together, ” she added.
She said the Parliamentarians’ Meet is more than dialogue—it is the call to arms of our generation. We The farmer in Chitral, the herder in Bhutan, the fisher in Bangladesh, the child in Kathmandu, the mother in Delhi struggling through smog, and the communities along the Yangtze headwater— they are all waiting, not for promises, but for protection.
Munaza Hassan said Pakistan comes to Kathmandu with determination: to share lessons, to learn, and to lead where leadership is required.
“Let us prove that together, we can sustain nature, and by doing so, empower our people,” she concluded.
