Fostering green initiatives emphasised

Islamabad:Chairperson of the Pakistan Red Crescent Society (PRCS) Farzana Naek on Tuesday called on Prime Minister’s Coordinator on Climate Change Romina Khurshid Alam and discussed various matters of bilateral interests and collaborative opportunities in climate change risk mitigation, environmental conservation and protection and engagement of the youth in resilience building activities.

Both underscored the urgency of climate action and collaborative efforts among various stakeholders direly needed to tackle climate-related challenges being faced by the country. They also emphasised the need for a holistic approach to safeguard communities against the growing impacts of climate change and fostering green initiatives.

Both Naek and Alam agreed to enhance cooperation and expand their collaborative efforts in environmental sustainability with enhanced focus on increasing forest cover of the country and enhanced engagement of the youth bulge in such green activities. The PM’s climate aide particularly emphasised the significant role of plantation programmes as the most viable and effective way to cope with adverse fallouts of climate change.

She also highlighted that trees play a pivotal role in combating rising temperatures, improving air quality, and preventing soil erosion, all of which are vital for building a climate-resilient future for Pakistan. "Our government has particularly assigned unprecedented importance to increasing tree cover, considering it central to the country’s environmental sustainability agenda and an essential tool in removing carbon emissions from the atmosphere," she said.

Alam said trees were not only our natural allies in the fight against climate change but are also key to ensuring the long-term health and safety of our communities.

She called for need to raise public awareness about the critical role of forests in stablising climate change and sensitise them that trees are not only natural allies of the humans in the fight against climate change but are also key to ensuring the long-term health and safety of our communities.