Daily Times

Caretaker Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Muhammad Sami Saeed on Wednesday chaired a meeting to review the progress on Climate Change-related projects, directing the quarters concerned to expedite the implementation process of the climate-resilient projects. The meeting was attended by the Secretary of the Planning Ministry, Member Climate Change and Food Security besides other stakeholders, a news release said.

During the meeting, the Member Climate Change gave a detailed briefing on the projects initiated by the Planning Ministry, particularly under the ‘Resilient Recovery, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Framework’ (4RF). He highlighted key initiatives taken by the Planning Ministry which include the National Climate Finance Strategy (NCFC), Climate Investment Plan and Sustainable Finance Bureau (SFB). Under these initiatives, he told climate funds set up by multilateral and bilateral institutions will be accessed. He explained the functioning of SFB which has been established to provide advisory services to ministries and provinces to access sustainable finance funds and promote financing options such as bonds, insurance, credit enhancement and others. The minister directed the quarters concerned to start the preparatory work for the upcoming COP28 to be held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The government has devised a comprehensive 4RF framework, which proposed effective coordination and participation arrangements among federal and provincial governments, development partners, donors, international and national NGOs, academic and private sectors. Last year, Pakistan faced an unprecedented devastation due to torrential rains and flooding in most parts of the country, which affected 33 million people and resulted in economic losses worth $30 billion. In response, the government devised the 4RF framework under which, the development projects are being executed across the country to make the infrastructure ‘resilient.’ Highlighting the significance of the climate-resilient infrastructure, Minister Sami Saeed said the government was committed to adopting a climate-resilient infrastructure. “Climate change is now a reality which requires continuous work from the formulation of an action plan to its implementation.”

The minister emphasized the need to increase capacity at the central and provincial levels to deal with natural disasters. Recently, the Federal Cabinet has approved the National Adaptation Plan (NAP)-2023 aimed at protecting communities that are vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change. Under the NAP, the government, along with other stakeholders would take measures to protect vulnerable communities from the adverse effects of climate change and these steps would include early warning systems and effective measures to cope with emergencies. Meanwhile, the planning minister chaired another important meeting to review the progress of the National Disaster Risk Management Fund (NDRMF) and its key activities. The meeting was attended by Chief Executive Officer (CEO) NDRMF Bilal Anwar, Company Secretary Muhammad Mehran Afzal, Deputy Chief Climate at the Planning Commission and other stakeholders. The meeting discussed the four strategic pillars of NDRMF, which include Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), Climate Change/Climate Finance, Knowledge Creation and Communication and Disaster Response and Resilient Recovery. The CEO gave a detailed briefing on the progress of the pipeline and ongoing projects.

He also presented the details of NDRMF’s successfully completed project across Pakistan and the feedback from the communities. The CEO presented the financial progress of NDRMF and the upcoming commitments from the international development partners and donors. The minister emphasized that the NDRMF should maximize its funding sources for continuity purposes and special efforts be made for tapping maximum grants instead of loans.