Experts ask for information sharing to combat climate change

Islamabad : Speaking at a regional webinar, the experts urged the neighbouring countries in the region to develop a common regional cooperation framework for sustainable development and to combat the challenges of climate changes.

Unfortunately the region faces both political and technical obstacles in developing a sustainable approach to meet the ever enhancing crisis and emergencies. This is exacerbated by non-availability of reliable data, geo-information as well as reluctance to acknowledge and effectively address the problem by key actors.

Today environment and climate change issues have become so significant in the world that governments, regional bodies and international organizations are agonizing over ways to control the continuously deteriorating situation. Environmental problems know no political boundaries and ethnic hatred; these transcend states and regions and thus need to be managed through interregional engagements among governments and institutions. Development Communications Network (Devcom-Pakistan) and DTN organised the regional webinar on “Regional Cooperation for Sustainable Development and to combat Climate Change” on Saturday to mark the World Earth Day that falls on April 22. Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam was the chief guest. The panel of experts included seasoned politician and former senator Farhatullah Babar, Country Head IUCN-Pakistan Mahmood Akhtar Cheema, Senior Research Fellow Dr. Dan Ge (China), Chief Executive Officer Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Board of Investment and Trade (KPBIO&T) Hassan Daud Butt, World Resources Institute Director Climate Change Ulka Kelkar, Tehran International Study and Research Institute (TISRI) Senior Research Fellow Dr. Yahya Jahangiri (Iran), Environment and Climate Advocacy expert Geeta Panday (Nepal), senior journalist and attorney-at-law Dilrukshi Handunnetti (Sri Lanka), and Devcom-Pakistan Executive Director Munir Ahmed. Former Ambassador to China Naghmana Hashmi shared his message on the occasion.