SDPI holds seminar on climate change

Bilateral cooperation between Pakistan and India can turn the climate change threat into an opportunity for ensuring peace and prosperity in both the countries as well as in the South Asian region. This was stated by delegates from India and Pakistan while speaking at the Track-II dialogue on Monday. They were speaking at the opening day of the three-day Track-II dialogue titled ‘Pakistan-India Track II Dialogue on (Climate) Change for peace’ organised by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) and Center for Science and Environment (CSE) India, in collaboration with Heinrich Boll Stiftung (HBS).
The event prompted the development of an actionable agenda for climate change in Pakistan and India in the areas of water, energy, gender, climate change adaptation and livelihood. It aimed at the normalisation of relations between the two countries by engaging experts and civil society representatives from both sides in the Track-II consultations on issues of mutual interest. The delegates stressed the need for continuous dialogue in order to devise a regional strategy to deal with the climate change threat and to provide a participatory and policy-oriented assessment of the area’s natural resources and their implications for South Asia. Chairing the opening session, Planning Commission of Pakistan on Climate Change and Development Advisor Dr Ishfaq Ahmad said India and Pakistan were facing common adversaries in the shape of climate change that needed to be dealt with by collective response. He stated that appropriate strategies for climate change adaptation needed to be devised.
Heinrich Boll Stiftung (HBS) Pakistan Country Director Britta Peterson urged the delegates to take advantage of the platform and come up with new and practical ideas. “The situation needs concrete efforts to carve out a realistic roadmap for Indo-Pak collaboration on combating climate change and to provide comprehensive, policy-relevant, science-based assessment of the South Asian environment,” she said.
United Nations Environment Programme Former Deputy Executive Director and SDPI Senior Advisor Shafqat Kakakhel said collaboration between India and Pakistan and other South Asian countries was necessary to tackle climate change. He stated that Pakistan and India must discuss and explores different vistas of cooperation as both the countries had an integrated ecological system with shared natural resources. He added that regional cooperation could help address the global warming in the area.
He said, “Water availability in the region is highly susceptible due to climate change which affects glacial melting and the monsoon system that feeds the rivers in the sub-continent.”
He added that SAARC could be instrumental and must serve as principle vehicle for sub-regional cooperation on issues related to environment, climate change and socio-economic development in the region.
“However, there is a negligible progress on translating the SAARC commitments made at the Dhaka and Thimphu Summits into practical actions, mainly due to a lack of political will, weak environmental cooperation in the region and the absence of a serious attitude of countries towards SAARC,” he added.
HBS India Country Director Axel Harneit Sievers said: “Dialogue between the two countries is essential to systematically improve relations and particularly discuss issues where both countries have a common position.”
SDPI Senior Research Associate Shakeel Ahmad Ramay briefed participants about the conferences’ objectives and goals. He said the Track-II dialogue was aimed at providing platform for experts to discuss the possibilities for cooperation and joint research-policy-action and the sharing of technology, knowledge and experiences.
Heinrich Boll Foundation India Office Programme Advisor Climate Change Sanjay Vashist said the climate change threat could be converted in to an opportunity through effective bilateral talks and coordination. He added further that climate change posed serious threats to the development process in South Asia. Earlier, a climate change documentary produced by Sustainable Development Television (SDTV) team and its editor, Tahir Dhindsa was screened. The documentary gave an overview of the state of the environment, depleting natural resources and developmental challenges while underlining the need for regional cooperation in general and between India and Pakistan in particular.