NA body annoyed at Climate Ministry over undue foreign tours

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly Committee on Friday directed the Climate Change Ministry to provide complete list of foreign tours made by its officials during last five years.

The NA Committee during its meeting asked the ministry to focus on concerted efforts needed to address the country’s climate vulnerability, environmental degradation, water and air pollution and deforestation instead of making foreign tours using national exchequer. Some members of the Committee also expressed serious reservations over increased focus of the ministry officials on foreign tours when the overall performance of the ministry is not satisfactory for last many years.

Chairman NA Committee on Climate Change Dr. Hafeez-ur-Rehman Khan Dreshak said deforestation in the country could not be controlled without improving people’s access to energy, providing employment for forest-dependent communities and addressing poverty in the country.

While responding to these reservations Minister for Climate Change Zahid Hamid said that the increasing access to the renewable energy, particularly in forest areas, is main thrust of the National Forest Policy recently approved by the Council of Common Interest. “We will equally focus on addressing the root causes of the deforestation in the country while making efforts to save the existing trees and planting new ones across the country," he said.

Briefing about the ministry’s Rs48.8 million project titled ‘Establishment of Geomatic Centre" Director General of the Pak-Environmental Protection Agency, Farzana Altaf told the meeting that the initiative primarily aims to assess through use of GIS technology, current state of country’s environmental pollution, tree cover, soil, climate change, marine life, coastal areas, snow and glacier melting, disaster vulnerability, biodiversity, water resources and ecological zones.

Forest officials of the ministry also briefed the meeting about Rs105.4 million project for Sustainable Land Management being implemented in 14 arid districts of Punjab, Balochistan, KP and Sindh. They told the meeting that the project would help address increasing desertification in the country through sustainable land use management.