Daily Times

Speaker National Assembly Raja Pervaiz Ashraf on Monday said that the formulation of national discourse on climate change was the obligation of intelligentsia and academia.

He said that Pakistan was vulnerable to climate change even though it contributed less than 1 percent of global greenhouse gasses that warm our planet. He expressed these views while addressing the inaugural session of the First International Conference on “Climate Resilient Agriculture for Sustainable Development & Food Security” organized by Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) in Islamabad.

“We need to take preemptive measures to control global warming, universities and academia should step forward to play a role and give suggestions to the policy makers based on research,” he suggested. He said that natural disasters, storms, volcanoes, earthquakes, or floods are not under human control, but with early preparation and timely measures, we can protect ourselves from the effects of these disasters. While talking about the damages to life and property in the country caused by recent devastating torrential rains and floods, he said that the agricultural lands had submerged and all major crops and livestock had perished across the country.

The speaker said the National Assembly of Pakistan was effectively highlighting challenges due to climate change through vibrant parliamentary democracy. The Parliamentary Task Force on SDGs oversees progress on the climate-related goal of SDGs while Standing Committee on climate change also actively scrutinizes government climate action and environmental response, he added.

Pervaiz Ashraf also called on the global community to take action to tackle the climate crisis and come forward to help Pakistan as it had been affected the most.

He further informed that the National Assembly of Pakistan in collaboration with the International Parliamentary Union (IPU) was hosting a regional seminar that would focus on the ongoing climate catastrophe and this seminar would also draw the world’s attention to the economic and human losses faced by our people, for which we were not even responsible.

While appreciating the efforts of the organizers for taking the initiative to hold a dialogue on the importance of introducing climate resilient agriculture in the country, the Speaker expressed hope that this conference would be fruitful for the formulation of a national discourse on agriculture and food security. Prof. Dr. Sher Muhammad, Chairman Department of Agriculture Sciences, AIOU, expressed gratitude to Speaker National Assembly Raja Pervaiz Ashraf for inaugurating the seminar.

This three-day international conference was organized by the Department of Agricultural Sciences, Allama Iqbal Open University. Prof. Dr. Azim Khalid of PMAS Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi was the keynote speaker, whereas other speakers include the Rector, Fast National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences, Dr. Aftab Maroof, Dean Faculty of Science, AIOU, Prof. Dr. Irshad Ahmed Arshad, Dean Faculty of Education, Prof. Dr. Nasir Mehmood, Registrar, Raja Umar Younis, and Chairman, Department of Agricultural Science, Prof. Dr. Muhammad Sher.