‘Contents on climate change to be made part of curriculum’

Islamabad: Federal Minister Climate Change Mushahidullah Khan said his ministry was taking initiatives to include contents on climate change in curriculum as environmental education could prepare the young generation well for dealing with the problem.

He also announced that considering the important role of youth in handling environmental issues, he had decided to include two students in the official delegation to be sent Germany for attending the Conference of the Parties (COP 23) to the UN Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) next month. The minister was speaking at the closing ceremony of a two-day event titled 'COP in My City' organised by his ministry in collaboration with the Fredrick Naumann Stiftung and Comsats University here.

The two-day event was a global competition among students, designed on the pattern of actual COP negotiations. It was meant to sensitise the students on climate change issues and apprise them of climate change negotiations process. The simulation has already taken place across 200 locations in 70 countries.

The top two winners were Hibba Essa and Abdullah Qureshi and third and fourth were Fatimah Mehmood and  Ali Shambeel Jafri. This event aimed at selecting two best students for official COP delegation. The ministry of climate change received interest from more than 100 applicants from all over the Pakistan of whom 54 applicants from 22 universities were selected.

The educational institutions represented included University of Punjab, University of Peshawar, IBA Karachi, Habib University, Comsats, Islamic University, Bahria University, NUST Islamabad, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan, Quaid-e-Azam University, Lahore School of Economics, GIKI, Fatimah Jinnah Women University, Government Postgraduate College, Rawalpindi, Institute of Space Technology, Arid Agriculture University, University of Engineering.

The applicants were short listed on the basis of regional and gender balance and educational level. The competitors were divided into 10 groups of whom seven represented nations and national groups while three represented the media, fossil fuel lobby and climate activists. This competition comprised two rounds, namely, “World Climate Simulation” and “World Energy Simulation”.

The judges included Dr. Qamar Zaman, author of Pakistan Climate Change Policy, Dr. Toqeer Ahmed Centre for Climate Change and Research Comsats IIT, Dr. Mahmood Khwaja of SDPI, Kahsmala Kakakhel, climate expert, and Farrukh Zaman of CSCCC (Civil Society Coalition for Climate Change).