Daily Times

ISLAMABAD – Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam on Sunday said that an ingeniously-designed ‘Debt for Nature’ swap scheme was recently put in the pipeline, targeting one billion dollar funding.

In a statement, he said that there were strong indications of a growing global appetite for supporting this directional shift and Pakistan has been recently chosen to pilot an impact-based nature bond – linking debt retirement with quantifiable performance on biodiversity protection. He said the government was taking all-out coping measures to address deleterious impacts of global climate crisis on the country’s socio-economic sectors for achieving environmental and economic sustainability.

He explained that the measures being taken under the prime minister’s ‘world-acclaimed’ vision for clean green Pakistan included nation-wide massive tree plantation and protection activities, promotion of renewable energy, shelving of coal-based energy projects, promotion of electric vehicles, mass transit system, establishment of new national parks and protection of the existing ones and launch of $500 million green euro bond for overall ecosystem restoration in the country.

Talking about introduction of 500 million ‘Green Euro Bond, he said that the country during the pandemic made a bold announcement to shift away from a coal-based pathway towards renewable energy by announcing a target of achieving 60 percent clean energy mix by 2030. Then, Pakistan quickly followed up this announcement by shelving 2600 megawatts of imported coal projects and replacing them with 3700 megawatts of hydroelectric projects, he said.

“Sensing a growing appetite for green and low-carbon investments in the international capital markets, Pakistan is all set to launch its first Green Euro Bond for $500 million this month,” he said, hoping it would harbinger the country’s entry into an expanding and eco-conscious marketplace. Subsequently, the government took the lead by initiating a first of its kind Natural Capital Valuation exercise to determine the true value of the natural asset that it is protecting and preserving, not only for itself but also a world ‘besieged by the growing crisis’ of climate change and biodiversity loss.

Malik Amin Aslam said that the ambitious green stimulus initiative, launched last year by Imran Khan to sustain economic instability caused due to Covid-19 crisis, focused on innovative financial tools to help build sustainable, responsible economic growth and achieve environmental sustainability and climate resilience. He said that the two striking lessons taught by the COVID-19 crisis were firstly, that nature functions with limits and thresholds which demand respect, and when crossed, have consequences accordingly.

“As humans pushed thresholds of their existence, nature reacted in shape of the Covid-19 crisis and unleashed the zoonotic pandemic upon humans, leaving the world in shock and awe,” he said. The second lesson emerged with hope that the human’s renewed and sustainable relationship with nature was possible, but needed to be supported by political commitment and collective action, he added.

He recalled that over the past few months, while many countries struggled to adjust this new normal, Pakistan acted with out of the box approaches, sensing a silver lining around the confusion and uncertainty. The government’s green agenda, built upon the successful implementation of the Billion Tree Tsunami (2014-18), had already accepted premise that nature based solutions not only protect and preserve nature but also have the potential to spur an alternate green economy.

More importantly, it had effectively created the launch pad for a directional shift of the economy towards sustainable growth, he highlighted. Give the backdrop, the COVID-19 crisis extended an opportunity and Pakistan seized it to break out of the depression and reinvigorate an ailing economy with a Green Stimulus initiative with two objectives: protecting nature and creating green jobs, he said. For financing the Green Stimulus, the Climate Change Ministry envisioned three phases, all of which now in place with specialised funding options, he said.

Spelling out the details, he said that the first ongoing phase was fully-funded through self-budgetary provisions, which had to be recalibrated and prioritised towards green job creation. As a result, the purely government financed activities, amounting to Rs10 billion have already delivered 85,000 daily wage green jobs in nursery raising, plant care, protection of natural forests and fire-fighting activities and “we have further planned to raise this to 200,000 daily wage jobs” within the next few months, he said.

For the second phase, the post-COVID-19 recovery, a new platform Ecosystem Restoration Fund was also launched to allow willing partners (public and private) to credibly and transparently join Pakistan’s green recovery, he said. Moreover, substantial support funds of $180 million have been secured through multi-lateral partners (led by the World Bank) proving that if the right plan was in place with full ownership, the funds could always be generated, he added.

Despite all odds, Malik Amin said that the country’s first institutional National Parks Service was now underway, targeting 5,000 nature jobs to be generated for youth people who will be trained to become guardians and custodians of nature. “This nature-positive pathway to rebuild the economy and stimulate sustainable growth, while employing young people, is a pressing need and will allow the country to not only come out of the economic recession but also build back better and build back green.”