Daily Times

The US and Pakistan are going to forge collaboration on addressing climate change aimed to mitigate and adapt adverse impacts of environmental degradation.

Pakistan has emerged as a leading nation amongst the countries, endeavouring to address climate change and environmental degradation.

Besides Pakistan’s other environment-related programmes, its clean and green agenda has been acknowledged worldwide, particularly by US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate Senator John Kerry.

In a meeting with Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) for Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam, the US special representative hailed Clean and Green Initiative of Prime Minister Imran Khan and described the Ten Billion Tree Tsunami Plantation Project (TBTTP) as the best in the world.

This was the first in-person meeting of climate ministers in the British capital’s Kew Gardens on the heels of a pre-COP meeting in the run-up to the annual global climate conference set for November this year in Glasgow.

Giving details about the meeting, Amin Aslam said climate change signals a positive engagement between Pak-US going beyond a narrow security lens.

“It is quite rare for Pakistan to be positively viewed on the global stage amid PM Khan’s vision and TBTTP. This is a rare event when Pakistan is portraying a globally acknowledged positive image on the environment and climate change,” he told APP in an online conversation.

Earlier, the SAPM wrote on his official Twitter handle about his meeting with the US envoy and said there was a very productive meeting with Kerry at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) COP26 ministerial meeting.

Amin also wrote, “Pakistan under the able leadership of PM Khan is looking forwards to collaborating with US President Joe Biden and his government on climate change and nature.”

Similarly, Senator Kerry shared SAPM’s tweet with comments mentioning: “I had an important discussion with my colleague Amin Aslam with less than 100 days until COP26.”

A similar tweet of Amin Aslam was also shared by the US embassy in Islamabad and expressed its desire to work with the government, saying: “US Mission Pakistan looks forward to continuing its partnership with Pakistan to combat climate issues.”

During the meeting, Kerry lauded PM Khan’s green and clean initiatives for the creation of green jobs through green economic recovery, protection of the environment, forests, the wildlife, restoration of degraded ecosystems and enhancing Pakistan’s resilience against negative fallouts of climate change on agriculture, forests, water, food, energy, health, education and lives and livelihoods of the vulnerable communities. “We are looking forward to contributing our role through our experiences in overall post-COVID-19 green recovery through enhanced investment in green sectors including forestry environmental protection and climate change resilience through mitigation and adaptation initiatives in the country’s climate-vulnerable socio-economic sectors,” he said.

The PM’s aide responded positively to Kerry’s remarks for joining hands with Pakistan regarding joint climate action and joint working group on environment, climate change, environmental sustainability through ecosystem restoration.