Islamabad
An amount of two billion rupees has been earmarked for the Prime Minister’s Green Pakistan Programme (GPP) after the prime minister approved the summary of the climate change ministry in this regard.
“The Prime Minister approved the summary on May 26 submitted by the climate change ministry for approval of the grant for launching the forest and wildlife protection and conservation programme of national significance. An amount of two billion rupees has been approved for two new financial years (2016-17 and 2017-18) of which one billion rupee would be released during the new financial year, beginning from July 1, under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP),” Deputy Inspector General Forest – Pakistan, Munaf Qaimkhani told media briefing here on Tuesday in the Ministry.
Total 105 million trees would be planted across the country under the five-year Green Pakistan Programme, which will cost Rs10 billion during next five years for its implementation.
He told journalists that the GPP, which will be implemented between year 2016 and 2021, has been hammered out on directives of the prime minister in consultations with all relevant stakeholders.
The programme would be launched formally with upcoming monsoon tree plantation campaign 2016 in July, he explained in response to a question.
The Green Pakistan Programme (GPP) was been rolled out on the directives of the Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif for revival of forestry and wildlife resources in the country.
The deputy inspector general forest informed the media that the Climate Change Minister Zahid Hamid as per instructions of the premier would write a letter to all provincial chief ministers to convey the significance of the programme for sustainable socio-economic development the country and coping with climate change-induced disasters, particularly floods, heatwaves, landslides, land and river erosions, cyclones, dust storms, desertification.
“What is seriously needed to make the green programme a real success is the immediate requirement for provincial governments to allocate counterpart funds in their development programmes for FY 2016-17 to qualify for the 50 per cent federal contribution under the green programme,” he emphasised.
The ministry’s forest official also told media that a national seminar would be organised to create awareness on compelling need for the nation to make concerted efforts to protect and revive forestry and wildlife resources, which is main goal of the green programme.
Relevant federal and provincial stakeholders, civil society organizations, corporate bodies and international development partners would be invited to the event help implement the programme Pakistan and identify potential funding channels to meet the Rs10 billion cost of the programme, he added.
Munaf Qaimkhani said further, “In this regard as per directives of PM, international donors will be approached through the Economic Affairs Division to contribute for the programme.”
Talking about status of the draft national forest policy, the Climate Change Ministry Joint Secretary, Dr. Tariq Sardar told the media briefing that draft policy had been already submitted to the secretariat of Council of Common Interests (CCI) for consideration in its next meeting, which is chaired by the prime minister.
“Hammered out in strenuous and elaborate consultation with provincial forest and wildlife departments and other relevant federal governmental departments and forest officials of the Gilgit-Baltistan, FATA and Azad Jammu & Kashmir regions, and non-governmental organisations, the policy would implemented to conserve existing forests, bring more trees through community participation and meet international obligations related to forests,” the joint secretary said.
Eight strategic actions and 58 policy measures have been proposed to achieve these three major policy goals, Dr. Tariq Sardar added.
Meanwhile, the ministry’s forest expert Munaf Qaimkhani added that it had been ensured while formulating the forest policy draft that it did not infringe upon provincial autonomy and was supportive of provincial forest policies and programmes while addressing the obligations of the federal government under the international treaties related to forests to which Pakistan is a party.
“Most of the guidelines and measures contained in this policy shall be applicable to federal government within its constitutional mandate. This policy provides a legal basis for the federal government to arrange and extend support to all provinces and regions towards achieving their respective targets and meeting international obligations by improving their capacity and financial gaps,” he said.
Earlier, spokesman of the climate change ministry, Muhammad Irfan Tariq, apprised the media about outcomes of the two-day international meeting of the Tehran-based Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO) held here on June 1 and 2.
He said that representatives of the six member countries out of the 10 central Asian member countries including Pakistan pledged to further scale up intra-regional collaboration and cooperation for tackling common environmental, climate change and sustainable development-related challenges.
“The delegates of the member countries emphasised the need for jointly tackling these fundamental challenges through increased collaboration and cooperation in research, transfer of scientific, technical know-how and technology in environment, energy, water, biodiversity, health, education, transport and communication fields is key to achieving sustainable development goals, conserving natural resources and tackling poverty, hunger and disease, emphasized the environmental development and climate change experts from the member countries of the Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO),” the spokesman Irfan Tariq told media.
The ECO is an intergovernmental regional organisation established in 1985 by Iran, Pakistan and Turkey for the purpose of promoting economic, technical and cultural cooperation among the member states. In 1992, the Organisation was expanded to include seven new members, namely: Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Republic of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Republic of Uzbekistan.