Report on climate change financing launched

Islamabad :There is a greater need to create public awareness on climate change, which has put Pakistan among top 10 countries most affected by the issue.

This was stated by Federal Minister for Climate Change Senator Mushaidullah Khan during a ceremony held here on Monday to launch a report on the Pakistan Climate Change Financing Framework formulated by the climate change ministry with the collaboration of the finance and planning ministries.

Pakistan is the fourth country after Indonesia, Vietnam and Bangladesh to develop comprehensive approach towards climate change financing. First, the Climate Change Public Institutional Review was launched in 2015 examining Khyber-Pukhtunkhawa, Fata and AJK. The current report is nationalwide and includes federal area, all provinces and three other regions.

"This report presents a roadmap of a wide range of reforms, which will require sustained efforts and commitments for implementations alongside a short to medium term plan of action. The Climate Change Financing Framework is a major output of the efforts of the government of Pakistan, supported by United Nations Development Programme," the minister said.

He said the process began with the climate public expenditure institutional report, which provided useful insight to establish a baseline for climate change expenditure, while a climate public expenditure and institutional review was carried out by tagging climate change relevant expenditure in the government's budget.

The minister said the framework would be milestone in bringing climate change in mainstream of planning and finance system. The budgeting of climate change was formally now part of budget call circular and budget policy.

“There is more need to create awareness of climate change issue," he said. The minister said we were living under glaciers and have serious threats, while desertification was increasing in the country.

Country coordinator of United Nations Development Programme Neil Buhne emphasised the importance of calculating climate change finance. The event was attended by the officials of Ministry of Climate Change, Ministry of Finance, representatives of the United Nations Development Programme and civil society, and media persons.