Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: In a meeting with the delegation of United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Chairperson of Climate Change Caucus, Senator Sherry Rehman, said that climate change has strong security and economic implications, and it is a national security challenge for the country.

The meeting with UNDP delegates comprising of the members Amanullah Khan, Karim Gobal, Asif Shah and Ahsan Gillani, was held at Parliament House on Wednesday. Sherry Rehman said that that the matter of climate change is never taken as an agenda and urgent action needs to taken in this regard. She briefed the UNDP team about the future role and purpose of the caucus and sought support from UNDP team in formulating the terms of reference of the caucus, designing a calendar for the working of the caucus throughout the year, capacity building of the caucus through capacity building of Parliamentarians, identifying the institutional gaps between climate change legislation and its proper implementation.

The chairperson emphasised that the goal of the caucus is not to do the same type of coordination with the ministry as the standing committees are doing, but to enhance climate literacy and connecting with the national and international development sectors to work towards a better environment. She further explained that caucus will work closely with the National Assembly in future, as well as the provincial legislatures to play the influential role of providing a forum to bridge the gap between federal and provincial level. UNDP delegation agreed that the caucus would to be able to raise the level of climatic awareness and would bring the executive into action. UNDP delegation also appreciated the role of Senate for being an important entity in debating and legislating upon the issue of climate change.

Published in Daily Times, September 6^th 2018.