President addresses International Conference on Climate Change and Development

 

Islamabad; October 22, 2010: President Asif Ali Zardari Friday directed ministry of environment for early finalization of the “Climate Change Strategy and Action Framework” to combat the adverse impacts of Climate change in social, environmental and economic areas in Pakistan. “The issue of climate change is not the concern of any single country,  it is a global issue and concerns the whole of mankind”.

 

The President said this while addressing the concluding session of the “International Conference on Climate Change and Development” at the Aiwan-e- Sadr on Friday.

 

Briefing journalists, Spokesperson to the President Mr. Farhatullah Babar said that the President said that the international Conference on climate held in Islamabad was an important milestone in the joint efforts of the government and people of Pakistan to face the challenges of climate change.

 

The President said that climate change has emerged not only as a major environmental issue, but also a multi-dimensional development issue and has posed challenge to all thinkers, planners, policy-makers and professionals from all countries and all nations.

 

According to the speech text the President said that though Pakistan contributes minimally to the world’s total greenhouse gases emissions , yet it was  faced with severe climate change impacts including sea level rise, extreme weather , melting of glaciers, -Fluctuations in monsoon and droughts and floods besides stress on Pakistan’s agriculture and livestock.  He said that the impacts of  monsoons has come as a hard reality for Pakistan this year, as massive floods, that might have been caused by climate change,  brought widespread devastations across the country.

 

The President said that Pakistan being one of the early signatory of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has undertaken a number of steps to address the issue of climate change that includes setting up of Task Force on Climate Change, establishment of Prime Minister’s committee on climate change and development of national policies on environment, conservation of forests, energy and drinking water. A comprehensive “Climate Change Strategy and Action Framework” is being developed by the government with consensus of all the stake holders, the President said.  The President said that it was not for the first time that we are formulating environmental strategies but actually it was the PPP government under the leadership of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto that gave the country environmental laws to safeguard the future generation from harmful effects of environment. We will take it forward to the coming generations, he added.

 

The President said that discussion on climate change sometimes becomes too technical with focus on what goes on in the atmosphere and very little attention is paid to its impact on the poor people.  The spokesperson quoted the President as saying “We are here to recognize the human face of climate change. It is the face of dying animals and ecosystems and members of our own species “It is our face”.

 

The spokesperson said that the President while commenting on the damages brought by the massive floods in the country said that the recent floods have devastated our infrastructure, agriculture and economy. More than 1,700 people died and over a millions lost their homes, he said.

 

The President while referring to the measures undertaken for rehabilitation of flood victims said that the task of rehabilitation and reconstruction was too big for the government to tackle on its own. While the government, international humanitarian agencies and local charities continue are doing all they can but we need greater international assistance to meet the challenge confronting us, he said.

 

The spokesperson quoted the President as saying “I have often said that our well to do people have to come forward and help in the task of rehabilitation and reconstruction. That is why I have proposed to the federal and provincial governments to impose a one time flood surcharge on well to do people. The International community will help us but we must first help ourselves, he said.

 

The President said that the vulnerability to flood damage was largely the consequence of human actions and choices instead of acts of nature. He said that that there was a need to focus on decisions that will contribute to climate preservation and added that we need to take decisions on issues of urban planning, on conservation of forests and on development of marginal lands.

 

The President while referring to the severe impacts of climate change on national economy said that Climate change was adversely affecting social well being of our people, our economic development, our water availability, our food security and human health.

 

He said that Agriculture is the mainstay of our economy as Pakistan was basically an agricultural country. The President said, “The agricultural productivity in Pakistan is being affected due to changes in land and water regimes. Dry land areas are highly vulnerable, as these regions are already facing significant water shortages and temperatures are rising. This is negatively affecting agricultural productivity by altering cropping seasons, changing irrigation water requirements, altering soil characteristics, and increasing the risk of pests and diseases”.

 

The government has taken a number of steps to curb deforestation in Pakistan, in particular the conversion of forest land to other uses, the President said.

 

The President said that he has already asked the government that all illegally occupied forest lands in flood affected areas be retrieved and rehabilitated as forests.  These measures will ensure that these forest lands serve as carbon sinks, he observed.

 

The President said that the Conference today aimed to bring together researchers, practitioners, civil society and policy makers from different backgrounds in order to rethink, debate and reframe development and sustainability issues. Climate change is by definition an international problem requiring a global response, the President said and added that we need to answer the most basic questions of what climate change will mean for the most vulnerable countries and communities like ours.  We need to identify, beyond the environmental impact of climate change, the specific social and economic impacts that will follow.

 

The President emphasized the need for access to world-class expertise and technology by the developing countries to build climate resilient economies and societies.

 

The President said that confronting climate change is our shared challenge and needed to be tackled with concerted joint efforts by all. 

 

Federal ministers, parliamentarians, federal secretaries and delegates besides other senior officials were also present on the occasion.