News Analysis |
Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday approved a groundbreaking project named “Re-Charge Pakistan” for better management and utilization of flood waters to restore and recharge the groundwater. PM Khan chaired a high-level meeting in which advisor to the PM Malik Amin Aslam Khan, Secretary Climate Change Khizar Hayat Khan, and senior officials participated. He was briefed on the functions of the Ministry of Climate Change.
“Tackling climate issues is a priority area for the government,” he asserted. “Pakistan Cleanliness Movement will be launched next month to undertake a comprehensive cleanliness drive across the country and to raise awareness among the masses,” he added. The government is expecting the active participation of the provincial governments and all segments of the society.
PM Khan has decided to spread the scheme to all over the country. Some of Pakistan’s biggest metropolitan cities including Lahore, Peshawar, and Rawalpindi are among the most polluted cities in the world for air pollution.
The ministry has been advised to play a proactive role in the cleanliness drive as it can only achieve the desired results if all the stakeholders including all the provinces coordinate to nationally defined priorities. To tackle the menace of the climate change, the government will start the promotion of renewable energy along with the implementation of 10 billion Tree Tsunami project.
The advisor to PM Malik Amin Aslam Khan briefed the participants of the meeting on the progress of the new project. Government is also working on the adaption strategy. Under this initiative, “50 early warning systems and 408 river discharge gauges are planned to be installed under Glacial Lake Outburst Flood project in Gilgit-Baltistan and five districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,” Aslam Khan said.
Read more: PM Khan launches countrywide tree plantation drive
During its first term in KP, PTI government took an initiative to launch the Billion Tree Tsunami scheme to combat the soaring temperatures in the region. It has been recognized by the World Economic Forum and other international institutions as a “green success story” as government surpassed its 348,400-hectare commitment to the Bonn Challenge.
By the time PTI took government in KP, the warning signs were already there, but, none of the previous governments had taken it seriously. “Pakistan has one of the lowest levels of forest cover in the region and well below the 12% recommended by the UN,” World Economic Forum said in a report.
PM Khan chaired a high-level meeting in which advisor to the PM Malik Amin Aslam Khan, Secretary Climate Change Khizar Hayat Khan, and senior officials participated. He was briefed on the functions of the Ministry of Climate Change.
KP hit its billion tree goal in August 2017 after successfully planting saplings on the hills of the province. Government added 350,000 hectares of trees both by planting and natural regeneration, in an effort to restore the province’s depleted forests and mitigate the effects of climate change.
Amid Climate Warnings, Government aims to Replicate KP Success
The researchers and climate scientists have warned that Pakistan would face increasing droughts in next decade. Minimal rain will affect daily life. High emission levels in Pakistan and enormous economic activity in neighboring ‘New Emerging Economic Powerhouses’ are having a profound impact on climate in South Asia.
Read more: Decision taken to plant sapling in name of each student in…
After spearheading the successful tree plantation campaign in KP, in an attempt to increase Pakistan’s forest level to resists the climate changes, and the likelihood of flooding and landslides, PM Khan has decided to spread the scheme to all over the country. Some of Pakistan’s biggest metropolitan cities including Lahore, Peshawar, and Rawalpindi are among the most polluted cities in the world for air pollution.
Media needs to play a part to create awareness about this increasingly unstoppable natural phenomenon—climate change. Pakistan must act for its future generations before capitalistic economies and human greed destroy the natural ecology of the planet earth.