Stage set for the formation of Climate Change Council

Islamabad

After the passage of the Pakistan Climate Change Bill by the Senate on Friday, the stage is set for the establishment of a dedicated organisational apparatus to deal with climate change-related issues in the country.

The National Assembly has already approved the bill drafted by the Senator Zahid Hamid-led climate change ministry.

After the passage of the bill, Pakistan has become one of the very few countries in the world to not only have a dedicated climate change ministries but also its associated institutions.

According to the relevant officials, the Pakistan Climate Change Act 2016 is meant to tackle the challenges of climate change and secure global funding for implementing projects related to climate change adaptation and mitigation.

Under the Act, the Pakistan Climate Change Council (PCCC) will be established with the prime minister as its head and chief ministers and environment and climate change federal and provincial ministers as its members.

They said the council would have 30 other members and 20 of them would be non-official ones, including representatives of commerce and industry, scientists, researchers, technical experts, educationists, representatives of non-governmental organisations working on climate change.

Under the Act, the Pakistan Climate Change Authority will be established to implement the government’s policies on climate change. The authority will also help provinces and other federating units to implement climate change policies and initiatives through mutual consultations.

The officials said Pakistan was ranked seventh among the countries most affected by and vulnerable to climate change disasters in spite of being ranked 135th among the countries in global green house gases contribution.

They said the country faced many adverse climate change impacts in the form of floods, glacier melting, droughts, heat waves, sea intrusion and most recently smog.

The officials said the Climate Change Act would help tackle climate change issues in the country and allow the country to access global climate finance more vigorously.