Our Correspondent/TD Web
ISLAMABAD: Special Adviser to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Climate Change, Malik Amin Aslam, has said that the climate change impacts are continuously creating global chaos and the IPCC report has highlighted this reality quite elaborately. Therefore, climate action has become imperative to avert various kinds of disasters including frequent floods, droughts, wildfires, and heatwaves in different parts of the world.
He was speaking as chief guest at a webinar ‘Ahead of COP 26: what IPCC report has for South Asia’ organized by Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI).
“The voice of Pakistan is being heard at important international forums dealing with climate change as Pakistan is amongst very few countries that are having climate action on the ground,” Aslam said adding that there should be a compensation mechanism in place coupled with allocation of funds, especially for the countries such as Pakistan that are facing huge losses to GDP due to climate change impacts.
He highlighted that Pakistan is modeling climate action and playing an active role in combating climate change despite its insignificant contribution in global carbon emission. The Government of Pakistan is rigorously pursuing Green Solutions including enhancing the size of forests and mangroves, adding protected areas for forests, and steps to achieve 30% energy target through green resources by the year 2030.
Sanjay Vashist, Director, Climate Action Network in South Asia (CANSA), earlier, explained that we have been seeing extreme weather phenomenon for the last several years. We must hold ourselves, especially the rich people of the world accountable for allowing this crisis to happen and make serious efforts including getting rid of fossil fuel and making investments in renewable energy. He said within South Asia, we need to allocate our own resources as developed countries are now facing the impacts that have been averted earlier. Let us not wait for the developed countries to respond to our needs. We have to take action now to avert the impacts of extreme climate events. The eruption of wildfire is one of these significant impacts. Therefore, besides pitching for the resources, we must explore alternate solutions based on local actions, Sanjay added.
Dr Shafqat Munir, Director Resilient Development Program SDPI, elaborated that in climate change, we are heading towards a tipping point and a humanitarian crisis is looming which call for dealing the situation with a sense of urgency. He said the destruction of Biodiversity is one of the key eventualities of climate change. He said that the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) has not acted till now in a way it should have been as per its mandate. He said that the IPCC report has highlighted some unfortunate realities such as how many people are prone to severe effects of droughts and floods resulting by climate change. Highlighting the importance of ecosystem restoration, Dr Munir said it starts from within the communities who are the owners and protectors of ecosystem be it terrestrial or marine. He called for mainstreaming Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) and Ddisaster Risk Reduction (DRR) mechanisms into sectoral policies across ministries and divisions with a key role of the ministry of climate change.
Ms Maryam Shabbir, Environmentalist at SDPI, earlier highlighted various aspects of IPCC Report through her technical presentation and said that the climate change impacts in various parts of the world are getting intensified and need urgent action. She said the report is an eye opener and a ‘red code’ for urgent actions to avoid rising temperatures that would harm life on the planet.
