Govt to continue taking steps for awareness on climate changes: Mushahidullah

Minister for Climate Change Mushahidullah Khan Wednesday said the government would continue taking steps for creating awareness among the people regarding climate changes.
Addressing the concluding session of three-day International Science-Policy Conference on Climate Change in Pakistan here, he said next international moot on the issue would be held in 2018 in a more better way for creating awareness on environmental issues and for the benefit of local researchers from the presence of international experts.
He said, “We have learnt a lot from this conference and in the next year we will arrange the next conference keeping in view the present experiences and hopefully will achieve desirable objectives.”
“We will raise Global Change Impact Studies Centre (GCISC) to international standards so Pakistan can take benefit from international expertise and other countries to benefit from our experience and knowledge,” he added.
The minister said during the present government’s tenure, Pakistan took a number of important steps towards climate friendly development, including ratification of Paris agreement and enacting Climate Change Act 2017. Moreover, international sustainable development agenda was adopted as national agenda along with approval of the National Forest Policy by the Council of Common Interests, he added.
Mushahiduulah said the meeting of the Climate Change Authority would be held within a few days to discuss climate related issues in the provinces, including Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and Gilgit-Baltistan.
Green Pakistan programme, he said, had been initiated to preserve forestry and wildlife in Pakistan and Astola Island had been declared as Marine Protected Area.
He said a proposal for the capacity building of Global Change Impact Centre had been approved. Some Rs 60 million out of the total budget of Rs 791 million, had already been released for the purpose, he added.
The minister said his ministry had started discussions with universities, through the Higher Education Commission, and provinces for starting research and educational programmes on climate change. Steps were being taken to establish provincial climate change centers as well, he added.
He urged the youth to keep interest of the country supreme as the motherland was created after unmatched sacrifices rendered by their forefathers. “We got a separate homeland with difficulties and about 1.3 million sacrificed their life and millions of people were left shelterless,” he added.

Source: APP