Daily Times

PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has chalked out its climate change policy along with the multilateral environmental agreements with focus on mitigating abnormal affects of the environmental degradation in the region.

The policy and the agreements were jointly prepared by the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) and the LEAD Pakistan. The final draft of the policy and the agreement documents were handed over by the LEAD Pakistan to EPA at a seminar held here on Tuesday at the Pakistan Forest Institute (PFI).

The seminar was chaired by EPA Director Dr Hussain Ahmad and was attended by Environment Deputy Secretary Farhatullah Marwat and other officials of the departments concerned. It took around 14 months for completing the climate change policy after holding consultations with all the stakeholders, said Hassan Akhtar Rizvi, the consultant at the LEAD Pakistan.

– ‘No other but Pakhtunkhwa’ –

Recommendations were sought from 13 line departments including Wildlife, Forests, Communication and Works, Planning etc for incorporation in the policy. Speaking at the seminar, Hassan Rizvi said that Pakhtunkhwa was the only province which has prepared its climate change policy and the agreements.

“No other province has chalked out such documents,” he said, adding that the Pakhtunkhwa was also the most affected region because of the climate change hazards in Pakistan and people were facing disasters in the shape of landslides, floods, prolong summer, cyclones etc.

All these disasters are the results of a climate change which is caused due to environmental degradation including deforestation, release of greenhouse gasses etc. According to estimates, Pakistan is facing an annual loss of Rs 465 billion due to environmental hazards and it’s time for the government and the public to take measures for improving the environment for ensuring a good and healthy living.

The climate change policy focuses on adaptation, mitigation and supporting practices including awareness raising, technology transfer, finance and capacity building. After formulation of the policy, the Environment Department will focus on strengthening of the Climate Change Cell already set up at the EPA, said Zakia Javed, the deputy director at the EPA.

– In compliance with national policy –

She said that the plans would also be chalked for implementation of the climate change policy. She said that the provincial policy was in compliance with the national climate change policy prepared in 2012. She said that the climate change policy would now be moved forwarded for its formal approval from provincial cabinet so that work should start over it.

About the agreements, she said that there were 13 action plans for the multilateral environmental agreements which are tailored to the provincial requirements, facing losses due to climate changes in forestry, fisheries, farming, human beings etc. Now after finalising of the climate policy and the agreements, there is need to appoint focal persons in all the sectors and liaise with federal authorities for launching of combined efforts to combat environmental degradation and affects of the climate changes.

In the concluding remarks, EPA Director Dr Hussain Ahmad made some recommendations including inclusion of qualitative data and for presentation of actionable suggestions with focus on adaptation and mitigation.