Karachi
Following the Sindh chief minister’s announcement of forming a department to deal with climate change and environmental developments, the Sindh government has formed a committee to adopt and implement the National Climate Change Policy in the province, while a working group has also been created to identify the areas, which comes under the framework of climate change so that mitigation measures could be adopted as per the climate change policy.
“The committee would be headed by the Sindh additional chief secretary and its mandate is to identify the areas which need an immediate provincial attention”, the provincial director general of the Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA), Naeem Mughal, told a capacity building workshop on Friday.
The workshop on “capacity building on climate change policy” was organised by the SEPA in collaboration with the Planning and Development Department.
During the workshop, officials from the departments of irrigation, forests, fisheries, port and shipping, communications, environment and solid waste management were given awareness about climate change and environmental issues arising from phenomenon like extreme weather patterns.
Mughal claimed that Pakistan’s role was less than one percent in factors leading to climate change, but it was among the top 10 countries that were being affected the most due to change in the climate and facing prolonged droughts, torrential rains and other extreme weather patterns.
He further claimed that Pakistan’s agricultural sector was also being affected the most due to climate change and it was evident from the fact that despite using modern techniques in the agriculture sector, the yield was not increasing for the last many years.
Increased carbon emissions by the industrialised nations, use of hydrocarbons and fossil fuels, and deforestation were some of the major factors and drivers of climate change, he informed the audience and added that without cutting down carbon emissions, the devastating phenomenon of climate change could not be slowed down.
Naeem Mughal blamed the industrialised nations for the high rate of carbon emissions, but added that due to their wealth and monetary resources, these countries were able to mitigate the effects of climate change, while poor and developing countries like Pakistan were paying a high price for the activities of others.
Former secretary forests, environment and wildlife Shams-ul-Haq Memon apprised the participants of the challenges of climate change being faced by Sindh.
He said there was a dire need to create public awareness so that people could prepare themselves in accordance with climatic changes.
Nasir Ali Panhwar of the Center for Environment and Development said that people in Sindh were facing droughts, extreme heat waves and cyclones due to change in climate and urged the authorities to pay attention on education so that people could deal with these changes without suffering any irreparable losses.
Dr Noman Ahmed of the NED University said that so far, the educated class in many countries, including Pakistan, was not aware of the importance and threats coming from the climate change.