Punjab govt keen to address issue of climate change: Zakia Shah Nawz

Provincial Minister for Environment and Population Welfare Zakia Shah Nawaz has said that climate change is a serious threat to livelihood of millions of people across Pakistan.

She said that the provincial government of Punjab was fully aware of the scale of threat and was keen to redress the impact of climate change on communities through various adaptive measures.

She expressed these views while speaking as chief guest at a seminar titled ‘Harvesting global food security and justice in the face of climate change’, held here on Friday under the GROW campaign. The seminar was organised by Indus Consortium in collaboration with Oxfam Novib Pakistan.

The minister assured the participants that the provincial government would take all possible measures to resolve climate change-related issues that are identified by the experts and climate change-affected communities.

Earlier, the provincial steering committee on climate change presented various recommendations to the provincial government to redress the threats posed by climate change.  The recommendations were based on detailed deliberations by members of steering committee with the representation of experts from academia, civil society, concerned officials from government line departments, media and local communities.

The recommendations included various policy measures and administrative actions for climate change adaptation and mitigation. Coordinator of the steering committee Ashiq Hussain Bokhari said that impacts of climate change vary in different localities and include unprecedented rains, floods and drought situation and serious situation of food insecurity, especially among the local farming communities. He said that the provincial government needs to take steps to help communities find local solutions of the issues under Local Adaptation Plans for Action (LAPAs).

Climate Change Commission Punjab Chairman Dr. Parvez Hassan on the occasion said that it was a matter of great satisfaction that climate change and its impacts are being discussed and the government has started working with the communities to address the issue. He said that climate change commission Punjab would welcome communities and civil society organisations to chalk out a strategy to ensure our agriculture and communities are better protected from the impact of climate change.

Member Provincial Assembly Punjab Sadia Sohail Rana said that we need to enhance awareness at every level. Senior academician Dr. Khalid Saifullah Khan, Anjum Riaz, Chief Meteorologist Food Forecasting, Jamshaid Fareed, Iqbal Hyder and Asim Saqlain also expressed their views on the diverse impact of climate change on the food security situation, especially in the Punjab province. The speakers also highlighted the need for local adaptation plans to find solutions to the impact of climate change.

The speakers said that Local Adaptation Plans of Action (LAPAs) have been developed in six districts of Punjab by Indus Consortium to address the issue of climate change adding that such mechanisms need to be replicated in all districts of the province according to their specific issues and requirements.