PESHAWAR: A shortage of provincial funds is threatening important anti-pollution projects including the launching of a Geographic Information System (GIS) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, officials said on Thursday. A member of the Forestry, Environment and Wildlife ministry confirmed that the environment department is facing cash-flow problems, thereby crucial initiatives of the Annual Development Programme (ADP) 2017-18. “We are a government department and yet we are unable to reduce the impact of rapid environmental degradation that is all too visible in the province,” the senior ministry official said on condition of anonymity. Budget cuts have seen funding slashed twice from Rs57 to Rs38 million for already earmarked ADP projects. This includes Establishment of Climate Change Cell for Multilateral Environmental Agreements, Activity Based Capacity Building of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the GIS and most important of all Inventory of Industrial Pollution. The shortage of funds has meant that the last two quarters were effectively wasted given that this had left relevant authorities unable to purchase the up-to-date technology necessary to even begin the process of measuring the carbon emission levels coming from industrial units. It is the same story when it comes to completing a GIS-survey of the province as well as establishing a permanent cell for climate change. “In the last six months the PC-1 for these schemes has been reshuffled and similarly just two meetings were held to discuss the financial discrepancies of the department,” said the official. Furthermore, little if any budgetary allocations authorised by the PTI-led provincial government have been spent on vital interventions such as capacity building in terms of human resources or else the drafting and printing of the KP Climate Change Policy, according to the source. The Pakistan Climate Change Act 2016 has assessed KP as being the most vulnerable of all areas of the country. Dr Qamar uz Zaman Chaudhry, a renowned meteorologist and lead author National Climate Change Policy, told Daily Times that rapid environmental degradation affects agriculture, biodiversity and, ultimately, human health. He also stressed that it was imperative that the provincial government continue working on ongoing sustainable development projects. However, Syed Muhammad Ishtiaq Urmar, special adviser to the Chief Minister on the environment, confirmed to Daily Times that insufficient funds had been allocated for environmental protection. “In view of environmental degradation and funding needs, international donors have been approached. And I have personally expressed concern to the Chief Minister about the gap between climate action and support” he added.
Published in Daily Times, January 12th 2018.