ISLAMABAD, May 08 (APP):Prime Minister’s Coordinator on Climate Change, Romina Khurshid Alam on Wednesday said the role women was crucial in climate advocacy and mitigation efforts to ward off serious impacts of environmental degradation and achieve community resilience among the vulnerable population of the country.
She was addressing the Pakistan Gender Climate Award 2024 second edition hosted by the civil society coalition for climate change, in collaboration with the Embassy of France, the French development agency, the European Union delegation to Pakistan, the UAE embassy, and UNDP.
Romina Khurshid Alam stated that Pakistan’s commitment to gender inclusivity in national mainstream and climate action was unwavering as its national climate policy and adaptation plans have rightfully prioritized gender as an area for action.
PM’s coordinator stated that the recognition of women achievers through this award ceremony underscores the critical nexus between gender and climate. “It serves as a powerful reminder of the indispensable role that women play in driving climate action forward, often in the face of unique challenges and barriers,” she added.
She also extended her heartfelt appreciation to the foreign governments represented in the event for their invaluable support and partnership in the country’s collective journey towards a more sustainable and resilient future.
While congratulating the women achievers, she also remembered Mr. Shabbir Hussain, climate beat reporter who passed away while reporting & raising awareness on climate change and said her ministry was working on hosting climate award attributed to his name.
Executive Director, of the Civil Society Coalition for Climate Change (CSCCC), Aisha Khan in her opening remarks appreciated the commitment and dedication of the winners of the awards towards sustainability, climate resilience and action, community welfare, and innovation.
She informed the participants that the submissions for the awards continued for a month whereas it took three months for evaluation and selection of the three most deserving candidates by a five-member jury.
The Awards were held in three main categories climate action, green enterprise, and young climate journalism with the focus on key thematic areas of strengthening of adaptive capacity of communities and ecosystems to climate change, empowering women and youth as agents of change, enhancing environmental protection and sustainability, climate advocacy, knowledge sharing, and information dissemination and innovation, she added.
“The number of applications increased fourfold as 79 entries were received this year as compared to only 20 the past year. However, the maximum applications were received under climate action followed by young climate journalism,” she said.
French Ambassador, Nicolas Galey said the purpose of the award to acknowledge women in innovation, sustainability and leadership was in line with the feminist diplomacy of France.
He added that the French development agency was financing projects in green development, energy, less carbon development projects and climate-smart initiatives of Pakistan.
“Gender inequality hinders development in general and women are more vulnerable to climate change and 2022 floods indicated this in the context of Pakistan. Pakistan’s climate resilience would require heavy capital and investment in women’s development whereas climate change mitigation and adaptation is the responsibility of all,” the Ambassador said.
He thanked Aisha Khan and her team at CSCCC for making the awards a success.
Head of EU Delegation, Rina Kionka in her special remarks acknowledged the winner women for championing climate action and thanked them for their efforts for the cause.
She mentioned that the EU was proud of this initiative as it addressed on one hand the gender equality and development of women’s goal and climate action on the other.
Kionka mentioned that EU stood for inclusive societies and was working tediously to achieve this objective, whereas women and girls were at the very center of EU initiatives.
“EU remains committed to partner with Pakistan on its journey to a sustainable future,” she added.
Deputy Head of Mission, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Muhammad Sultan AlKaitoob said the UAE recognized indispensable role of women in sustainable development and had implemented significant strides to ensure maximum women’s inclusion, whereas some 50% workforce including members of the Parliament comprised of women in UAE.
“UAE is ready to collaborate with Pakistan and other countries for a sustainable world,” he added.
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Resident Representative, Samuel Rizk said the climate change risks were more apparent in Pakistan as during natural calamities the vulnerable were most affected and women were the most disproportionately presented in this regard.
He added that Pakistan was ranked low in terms of women’s gender parity, whereas the Award winners exemplified that barriers can and will be broken.
Rizk lauded the CSCCC efforts for its collaboration and congratulated the winners.
The first winner in the climate action category was Qandeel Rehman, a PhD in Renewable Energy Engineering and founder of Solar-For-Her and She-In-Energy that launched solarizing of schools to improve the classroom learning environment and girl child enrollment in rural schools in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
French Ambassador conferred the Award to her and the Award Cheque was given by Samuel Rizk.
The second award in the green enterprise category was given to Umbreen Arif, co-founder and managing director
The2Magpies Nature Resort in Aliabad, Hunza promotes eco-tourism in fragile mountain areas, circular economy, sustainable development, and building capacity of mountain women as entrepreneurs.
The third award was conferred upon Khalida Niaz in the young climate journalism category given away by the UAE envoy.
She was executive producer and editor at Tribal News Network highlighting the impact of climate change on women using journalism to raise awareness on gender-climate nexus and amplifying female voices on climate action.
