Pakistan's Climate Change Adaptation Project worth $36 million salient features
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ISLAMABAD, Jan 29 (APP): Pakistan's US $36 Million Climate Change Adaptation Project, responding to Glacial Outburst in Northern Pakistan, will benefit 185 million population of the
country.
The project was approved by Green Climate Fund (GCF) during its 14th Board meeting, held in Republic of Korea last year.
The project was submitted by Ministry of Climate Change together with UNDP for Board's approval.
According to an official of the ministry, the proposed project will benefit approximately 700.000 people on average directly (5 districts in KP and 7 in GB) and about 30 million indirect beneficiaries, of whom half are women and girls.
The project, thus, benefits about 15% of the total population of Pakistan, estimated at 185 million as at 2014 (World Bank data).
The Indian Board member attempted to reject Pakistan's
proposal, citing unsubstantiated technical reasons. However,
the other 23 Board Members, who considered the project fit for approval, outrightly rejected these claims and approved the project.
Pakistan also holds an alternate seat at the Board (with Saudi Arabia) and was able to effectively mitigate the false
perceptions that were being propagated by the Indian member.
The approved project will impact the lives of thousands of people who are living in constant danger of periodic
glacial outbursts in the Northern Pakistan.
The main project outputs are: Strengthened sub-national
institutional capacities to plan and implement climate change-resilient development pathways and Community-based Early Warning System (EWS) and long-term measures are up-scaled
to increase communities' adaptive capacity.
The project will address climate change impacts and Glacial
Lake Outbursts Floods (GLOF) risks by preventing loss of lives and community infrastructure based on a holistic approach in all 7 districts of Gilgit-Baltistan and 5 districts in Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa Province, thus contributing to a climate-resilient
sustainable development in the long-term.
The project outcome will strengthen adaptive capacity and reduce exposure to climate risks posed by climate change impacts and GLOF risks through the increased technical capacity of
provincial and line departments to integrate CC and GLOF risks
into development plans, tools and budgets and by expanding the
Pakistan Meteorological Department's Early Warning System (EWS)
based on hydrological modeling and flood scenarios.
The project will also strengthen sub-national institutional capacities to plan and implement climate change and
disaster-resilient development pathways as proposed outputs and activities will develop the capabilities of local level
institutions and federal level institutions to incorporate climate change adaptation considerations into development plans in GB and KP.
Listing some other initiatives, the official said," Another remarkable achievement of Ministry of Climate Change is launching of Green Pakistan Programme. As is well known forestry and wildlife have been provincial subjects for several decades, well before the devolution of the 18th Amendment."
Accordingly, the basic outline of Green Pakistan Programme
for revival of forest and wildlife resources in Pakistan (GPP)
is that this programme will be implemented with the support of
all provinces and federating units. The GPP was approved by
the Prime Minister of Pakistan and an allocation of Rs. 2 billion
being made in the current budget.
He told APP that Ministry of Climate Change succeeded to get Climate Change Act approved from cabinet. Under this Act Climate Change Council will be established in which all chief
ministers will be included. This council will be responsible to implement climate change related policies in their respective provinces.
Further Ministry of Climate Change portrayed the positive image of Pakistan on the International platform by signing
the Paris Agreement in April 2016 which was ratified before COP-22.
Pakistan also participated in COP-22 which was held in Morocco this time.
Federal Minister for Climate Change Zahid Hamid announced official statement of Pakistan that "we have adopted a perspective development plan called 'Vision 2025', a National
Climate Change Policy along with a Framework for its implementation, and a National Disaster Risk Reduction Policy.
He also mentioned that Pakistan is first country in the world whose National Assembly passed a unanimous Resolution adopting the SDGs Agenda as its own national development
agenda.
The Minister also held bilateral meetings with his counterparts of UAE, Turkey and Iran. He also attended
Women Leaders & the Global Transformation Summit and
highlighted important initiatives taken for women empowerment of Pakistan.
"Similarly Global change Impact Study Centre which is attached department of Ministry of Climate Change and
responsible for research work related to climate change issues made many contributions that includes International/National Research Papers, research Reports", he added.
