PESHAWAR:Diplomatic and environmentalists here on Thursday termed the address of Caretaker Prime Minister, Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar at the Climate Ambition Summit 2023 on the sidelines of UN General Assembly as highly inclusive, and foresighted by reflecting the aspirations of the nation.
Former Ambassador, Manzoorul Haq told reporter that the prime minister has boldly highlighted the adverse impact of climate change in developing countries including Pakistan during his landmark address at the international summit.
He said the cooperation of international countries was inevitable to mitigate the negative effects of climate change, otherwise, it would continue to rise in frequency and intensity with very negative effects on the economy, agriculture and food security in low-income countries in future.
Manzoor said Pakistan was among 10 countries highly vulnerable to climate change due to global hazardous gas emissions, high rate of deforestation and fast melting of glaciers mostly in Hamalya region owing to global warming.
He said that the 2010 and 2022 devastating floods, Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GOLF) that formed Atabad lake in Gilgit Baltistan and the Murree 2021 snowfall tragedy besides Biporjoy Cyclone this year had testified Pakistan’s
susceptibility to climate change that caused a negative impact on agriculture, livestock, food security, fisheries, hotels, energy and the environment.
“The average annual temperature of Pakistan was about 24.6 °C in years after 1980 and about 25.6 °C in the last years before 2022. So in less than 43 years, it has increased by 1 °C. This trend only applies to the selected four weather stations in the country besides signifying climate change’s negative effects in the South Asian region,” he said.
Manzoor said the entire nation and the world community had seen the massive destruction of the hotels and buildings in Swat besides agricultural crops that were washed away by last year’s flash floods,” he said.
In spite of contributing less than one per cent to global warming, he said Pakistan’s economy which was largely dependent on agriculture and textile sectors, was badly affected by the climate change-induced weather patterns.
He said Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar has urged the world community to extend financial and technical support to developing countries such as Pakistan to help them achieve all ambitions in the fight against climate change.
“Climate change is a global issue with no border and geography and great responsibilities rest on the developed countries and UN to support developing states including Pakistan in its fight against climate change and controlling of global warming,” he said.
Due to global warming and the rise of temperature, he said the glaciers were melting fast in Hamalya region with more chances of floods in Pakistan and neighbouring countries in future and urged all nations to raise their climate ambitions, regardless of their statuses and geographical locations and financially support Pakistan.
Tauheed Khan, former Conservator KP Forest Department termed the address of caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar in the international climate change summit as very comprehensive and wide-ranging.
He said the climate change-induced weather conditions including the rise of temperature, heatwaves, floods and sea cyclones are posing serious threats to human beings and whopping plantation was imperative to offset the negative effects of global warming.
He said desertification has emerged as a major challenge to developing countries including Pakistan due to climate change-induced weather patterns and unlawful cutting of forests.
Due to desertification, he said that fertile land was being deserted due to changes in weather patterns, prolonged drought and land degradation.
As per National Forest Policy 2018, Pakistan was losing about 27,000 hectares of forests per year mostly in community and private lands in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit Baltistan.
He said the first-ever National Adaptation Plan has been adopted by Pakistan to build climate resilience and combat drought and desertification.
Tauheed while lauding the Prime Minister for highlighting “Living Indus Initiative” of Pakistan said that it would help restore the ecological health of the Indus basin.
Ibrahim Khan, Deputy Project Director said the address of the Prime Minister has sensitized global community against climate change vulnerabilities.
Taking cognizance of increasing incidents of climate change and the high rate of deforestation, he said the first phase of the Billion Trees Afforestation Project (BTAP) was launched in 2014 in KP under the Green Growth Initiative (GGI).
Under GGI, he said focus on six sectors namely forestry, protected areas, national parks, clean energy, climate resilience, sanitation and water management were made.
About 1.208 billion saplings were planted under BTAP’s first phase with an estimated cost of Rs14.364 billion, registering six per cent increase in KP’s forest cover areas i.e. 26.6 percent in 2018 from 20.6 per cent in 2013-14 by surpassing the international standard of 25 per cent forest cover.
The project was later extended to the entire country including Azad Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan in 2018 with a plantation target of 10 billion trees including additional one billion saplings set for KP by June 2023 under the 10 billion trees afforestation project (10BTAP).
Later, 10 BTAP was launched by the Government of Pakistan with a total cost of 125.1843 billion on September 2, 2018, during Plant for Pakistan Day.
“The project is being implemented across Pakistan by the Ministry of Climate Change along with Provincial and territorial Forest departments, Azad Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan.”
Ibrahim said Plant for Pakistan was a key initiative of the government to bring maximum areas under afforestation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where about 1.5 million saplings would be planted during monsoon season.
Besides national building departments, the students also actively participated in the Monson afforestation campaign in the province.
That monsoon plantation was underway in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where 180,000 saplings would be sown through farm forestry, mass plantation and rehabilitation of the existing forest resources.
The experts said that Prime Minister’s address was being widely appreciated in global and international circles with workable solutions to combat climate change’s challenges.