Court seeks 47-year record of climate change

LAHORE
The Lahore High Court Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah on Friday directed the Pakistan Meteorological Department to present record of climate change during the last 47 years in the country.
The court has also directed the federal government and its different ministries to come with suggestions on formation of a “Climate Change Commission”. The court issued the directions while hearing a petition highlighting challenges of climate change.
Earlier, a joint secretary of the environment ministry, Sajjad Bhutta, told the court that the challenges of climate change could not be met without adopting green technology. A representative of the water and power ministry stated that construction of at least seven big and 36 medium size dams was critical to control floods.
The court adjourned the hearing until September 14. An agriculturalist, Asghar Leghari, had filed the petition complaining that federal and provincial governments were not taking steps to develop the required resilience to climate change as per “Framework for Implementation of National Climate Change Policy, 2013”.
The petitioner relying on National Climate Change Policy (“NCCP”) issued by the Ministry of Climate Change in, 2012 highlighted that serious threats to Pakistan as a consequence of climate change. He submitted that the most immediate and serious threat to Pakistan was that of water security and food security. He said priority items under the Framework, 2013 had not been complied with and no action had been taken by the respective authorities to develop capacity and resilience to address climate change.