• Login
Upload
Tech News, Magazine & Review WordPress Theme 2017
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Videos
    • All
    • Hum Awam
    • Off The Cuff
    • The Afia Salam Show

    Going Green!

    Cricket Corruption: Butt, Asif Found Guilty

    Amir, Asif & Butt Jailed

    Natural Gases

    Chalo Chalo Bhit Shah Chalo

    Teach the Teachers

    Mixed Media

    Fix the Fixing!

    Be Safe Online

  • Societal Issues
    • All
    • Gender

    What does the society expect of its women!

    Guatemala: Indigenous Village Declares Internet Access a Human Right

    Speak Up Against Gender Based Violence

    A Little Feel Good Story

    “We Learn From History, That We Never Learn From History”

    Bhoja Air Crash and Climate Change

    Strange Bedfellows?

    Justice for Women

    Women’s role & culture

  • Stories
    • All
    • advocacy
    • Disaster Response
    • Environment
    • History
    • Media
    • Media, Advertising & Branding
    • Miscellaneous
    • Politics
    Remembering Baba e Mangroves Late Tahir Qureshi on #WMD22

    Remembering Baba e Mangroves Late Tahir Qureshi on #WMD22

    Nostalgia and Hope intertwine with Climate Induced Migration

    Nostalgia and Hope intertwine with Climate Induced Migration

    World Water Day 2018:Nature Based Solutions

    World Water Day 2018:Nature Based Solutions

    Once upon a Christmas in a Town called Hussain D’Silva

    Once upon a Christmas in a Town called Hussain D’Silva

    Getting through December 21

    Getting through December 21

    That date.. December 16th!

    His Sabeen, and Ours’

    His Sabeen, and Ours’

    World Cancer Day.. is just another day!

    World Cancer Day.. is just another day!

    Six years after the Attabad disaster, adaptation is still name of the game!

    Six years after the Attabad disaster, adaptation is still name of the game!

  • Mind Over Matter
  • Articles
  • About
    • Profile
    • Portfolio
    • Expertise
  • Contact
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Videos
    • All
    • Hum Awam
    • Off The Cuff
    • The Afia Salam Show

    Going Green!

    Cricket Corruption: Butt, Asif Found Guilty

    Amir, Asif & Butt Jailed

    Natural Gases

    Chalo Chalo Bhit Shah Chalo

    Teach the Teachers

    Mixed Media

    Fix the Fixing!

    Be Safe Online

  • Societal Issues
    • All
    • Gender

    What does the society expect of its women!

    Guatemala: Indigenous Village Declares Internet Access a Human Right

    Speak Up Against Gender Based Violence

    A Little Feel Good Story

    “We Learn From History, That We Never Learn From History”

    Bhoja Air Crash and Climate Change

    Strange Bedfellows?

    Justice for Women

    Women’s role & culture

  • Stories
    • All
    • advocacy
    • Disaster Response
    • Environment
    • History
    • Media
    • Media, Advertising & Branding
    • Miscellaneous
    • Politics
    Remembering Baba e Mangroves Late Tahir Qureshi on #WMD22

    Remembering Baba e Mangroves Late Tahir Qureshi on #WMD22

    Nostalgia and Hope intertwine with Climate Induced Migration

    Nostalgia and Hope intertwine with Climate Induced Migration

    World Water Day 2018:Nature Based Solutions

    World Water Day 2018:Nature Based Solutions

    Once upon a Christmas in a Town called Hussain D’Silva

    Once upon a Christmas in a Town called Hussain D’Silva

    Getting through December 21

    Getting through December 21

    That date.. December 16th!

    His Sabeen, and Ours’

    His Sabeen, and Ours’

    World Cancer Day.. is just another day!

    World Cancer Day.. is just another day!

    Six years after the Attabad disaster, adaptation is still name of the game!

    Six years after the Attabad disaster, adaptation is still name of the game!

  • Mind Over Matter
  • Articles
  • About
    • Profile
    • Portfolio
    • Expertise
  • Contact
No Result
View All Result
Afia salam
No Result
View All Result

http://www.pique.pk/environment/04-Apr-2013/climate-change-change-we-can

afiasalam by afiasalam
April 7, 2013
Home Stories Environment
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
April, 2013

Climate change: change we can?

Content-wise, the National Climate Change Policy is welcome even though a mixed bag. But what about implementing mechanisms?

Afia Salam

A large body of people, including scientists in the West, especially the U.S., is still debating the veracity of warnings pertaining to the rise in earth’s temperature and the resultant disasters clubbed under the term of Climate Change.

 On the other hand, countries that have been listed in the category of ‘threatened’ or ‘vulnerable’ have already started taking measures to deal with the threat, which has, in the recent past, proven to be a clear and present danger for them.

Small island nations like the Maldives, Bangladesh, India and even the UAE are far ahead of Pakistan in taking measures to combat the effects of Climate Change. They have put themselves out there for the world to notice and assist them in combating climate change through mitigation and adaptation measures.

They are rapidly turning to alternate energy, green buildings and zero carbon areas, even cities, something Pakistan probably needs to do on a day-before-yesterday basis!

Until now, Pakistan’s response, despite being ranked the highest on the global vulnerability index, had been sporadic and disjointed, and was more ‘project-oriented’ than planned.

The Ministry of Environment, which stood devolved in the aftermath of the 18th Amendment, was going through a crisis of identity. Not only was it divested of its powers, it also lost its name, and after a while morphed into the Ministry of Disaster Management, and has now finally evolved into the Ministry of Climate Change.

While Climate Change may not cover everything that falls under environment, at least it spurred efforts to finally come up with a plan to deal with it. This led to the unveiling of the National Climate Change Policy which was the culmination of the effort of the Task Force constituted in 2008 for its formulation by seeking inputs from stakeholders drawn from the scientific community, academia, NGOs and the civil society.

The areas of focus, especially in an under-developed country like Pakistan, of course, were water, food and energy security. It also talks about the conservation of the Third Pole, the glaciers in the Hindukush-Karakoram areas.

Disaster resilience and disaster risk reduction also had to be factored in due to the incontrovertible evidence of increase in extreme events impacting millions of lives as in the floods of 2010. The lean economy, too, has no cushion against the losses amounting to billions of dollars in the wake of such disasters.

Such events not only create environmental, human, economic, and social stresses, they set the country back on the achievement of development goals as it does not have the coping mechanism to absorb such repeated shocks.

This is exactly what has happened in Pakistan and our poor development indices are proof.

A World Bank report rings another warning bell for all countries falling within the South Asian region, of which Pakistan is a part.

It states that: ‘In the South Asia Region (SAR), the number of disasters per year has quadrupled over the past four decades. Resulting damages have accumulated to over US$25 billion in the past five years alone. Despite increasing disaster risk in SAR, awareness and understanding of this risk among individuals and governments remains low. As an emerging topic, exposure and vulnerability to natural hazards and their consequential impacts are not yet at the forefront of development agendas.’

So what does the National Climate Change Policy entail and how will it change the situation. It touches on all of the aforementioned issues, along with the conservation of biodiversity and issues related to the forest cover.

It adds to Pakistan’s collection of very well made policies, something the country is famous for. Its policies have even been adopted by other countries, like South Korea, which peaked as an economic power through its implementation.

Implementation at home, however, has always been the weakest link in the chain. The fears cited by those who have gone over the NCCP are no different. An important subject like the environment has been devolved, much against the reservations, and recommendations of the experts in the field.

It is now a provincial subject and in the hands of ministries and departments, who fall way short of the capacity to implement or govern this agenda or the vision contained within this agenda.

While critics of the devolution process have been saying it in other instances, too, here it has been pretty much a case of putting the cart before the horse. If even while the debate on the 18th Amendment was ongoing, and an effort had been made to upgrade and upscale the capacity of the provincial ministries, the situation may not have been so depressing.

However, in the current scenario, there is no answer to the question as to how the National Climate Change Policy will be implemented by the provinces when all related sectoral functions are also devolved, and disconnected; like agriculture, food, water, forestry, transport, which impacts the air quality, disaster management, etc. They do not fall under one umbrella.

On the governance front, too, while Punjab has functioning green courts, they do not exist elsewhere, and the writ of the EPAs has been flouted and violated in instances that are too many to recount!

Then, again on a broader level, the vision for the conservation of the glaciers is commendable but that transcends the borders of the country. That is a regional issue. How can a policy that has to be implemented by the provinces extend its writ to regional issues?

Then again, the issue of generating adequate financing for achieving all that is contained within the policy has not been clearly spelled out. Pakistan needs huge financial assistance to develop climate resilience.

At a recent forum, The Director General of Environment, MoCC informed the audience that at the U.N. Conference on Climate Change that was held in Doha in November-December 2012, Pakistan succeeded in the establishment of funding mechanism for preparation of National Adaptation Plans through special Climate Change funds operated by the Global Environment Facility (GEF).

Pakistan also successfully pursued the formation of an international mechanism for addressing the issue of “Loss and Damage” caused due to floods, sea level rise, Cyclones and other Climate related disasters.”

This is an encouraging move. But not enough is said in the policy about generating financing through Clean Development Mechanisms, or about emissions curbing through reforestation despite being a signatory of REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestations and forest Degradation).

The effects of Climate Change on heritage sites and the changing pattern of monsoon and its severity on aviation has also not been looked into adequately, despite the unfortunate crash of Bhoja Airlines which, in the opinion of aviation experts, as well as environmental experts, had all the elements of an unexpected weather phenomenon hitting the aircraft, causing it to crash.

Climate change’s impact on gender, health, and rapid urbanization, an increase in the number of cli-migrants or climate refugees has not been extensively dealt with either. And to reiterate, even if all these issues had been highlighted, one wonders what the implementing mechanisms were.

The fear is that like many other policies that spell out a vision without a clear roadmap with goals for implementation, this will remain a document that will become obsolete because of the lack of an action plan that needed to be rolled out in tandem.

What we have to wait and see at this juncture in our history is that with political parties readying themselves for elections and unveiling their manifestoes, how many have an understanding of critical national issues like these.

Commendably, Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf got a head start by adding environment to its list of other policies for the electorate to ponder. What makes one sit up and take notice is the fact that it was prepared by Malik Amin Aslam, former minister of state for environment and current Global Vice Chairman of International Union for Conservation of Nature, and Climate Policy Advisor to the UNDP.

He is one of the few persons in Pakistan who command knowledge about how the carbon market works and how Pakistan can generate finance through the CDMs.

As far as our National Climate Change Policy is concerned, we really need to figure out how a global, transboundary issue can be tackled by implementers who are going to be largely provincial in focus!

 

 

Tags: BangladeshBhoja Air CrashClimate ChangeGEFGerman WatchIUCNMaldivesMalik Amin AslamMaplecroftMinistry of Climate ChangeMoCCNational Climate Change PolicyPakistan Tehrik e InsafPTIREDDUNDPWorld Bank
afiasalam

afiasalam

  Resume Freelance journalist and Communications consultant A bridge connecting ideas to people & solutions   Name: Afia Salam DoB:  03021957 Nationality: Pakistani Experience: Journalism: I have been associated with the media in many capacities since 1978. ·   Started as Pakistan's first female cricket writer. ·   Worked at The Star, eveninger of the Dawn group of Newspapers. ·   Editor of an Aviation and Defense magazine (Wings) ·    Executive Editor of The Cricketer magazine in the 80's and 90's, ·   Editor of Pakistan’s first Energy publication in 2001(Energy Update). ·   Joined Dawnnews which was launched as Pakistan’s first English language channel. Worked as a senior copy editor, Head of Culture Desk and content in charge of its flagship morning show titled Daily Breakfast@Dawn. ·   Content head of SpeakforChange blog and its associated web channel 247online.tv where I hosted a show and co-hosted another. ·   Communications Consultant for Exponent Engineers on the charged parking component of the World Bank-Government of Sindh KNIP project ·   Project lead for #C4CC (Conversations for Climate Change) Media capacity building project of High Commission of Canada in Pakistan and UNESCO ·   Project Lead for UNESCO supported  #MIL (Media Information Literacy) for Climate Change Stories from Pakistan, a nationwide media support project I contribute articles as a freelancer to many media outlets eg: Dawn, Tribune, Newsline, Aurora, The News on Sunday, Thirdpole, Nayadaur, The Friday Times. GEO English and Pique magazine.   Advertising: Worked almost 15 years as Creative head and Director Special Projects of three different advertising agencies, Blazon, Argus, and Blitz. From 1991 to 2005.         Development Sector: ·       Headed IUCN-Pakistan (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Education, Communications and Outreach Unit, and also briefly headed their Business and BioDiversity portfolio to kick start engagement with the corporate sector and industries to promote sustainable practices. ·       Served as Sindh coordinator of the newly formed Imran Khan Foundation to provide relief, rehabilitation and resettlement to the victims of 2010 floods in Sindh and of 2011 Badin cloudburst.   Socio-Cultural/Education Sector: ·       Project Manager for Pakistan for Google Cultural Institute  2014-15 to showcase Pakistan’s cultural and historical assets through digital exhibits prepared according to the GCI template.  ·       Communications Lead at Badal Do, a school and education reform programme ·       Visiting faculty at IoBM, having taught courses on Media Law and Ethics, and Environmental Journalism. Training: I have been involved in media development through training of journalists in reporting on environment, climate change, gender, labor, digital security, election reporting, effective use of social media and media ethics. ·       These trainings were held across Pakistan on behalf of organizations such as Pakistan Press Foundation-UNESCO, Intermedia-ILO, IRADA, Civic Action Resource- Solidarity Center, Intermedia-Democracy Reporting International, IUCN Pakistan-Oxfam-GB, LEAD Pakistan-HBS, LEAD-WWF, Green Media Initiatives- GNMI, Pakistan Water Partnership, CEJ-IBA. ·       Have also been a conducted trainings of school teachers, college and university students, and Government officials on the subjects of Environment, Climate Change and Media matters on behalf of IUCN Pakistan,  LEAD Pakistan, Friedrich Naumann Foundation, Greenwich University, Institute of Business Management, Heinrich Boll Stiftung, Islamic Relief Pakistan, , High Commission of Canada in Pakistan ·       Have held media management training for Marie Stopes Society , Unilever Pakistan, Uber- Pakistan and KElectric for their middle and top management.   Authored a commissioned researches on: ·       Needs Assessment for Promoting Ethics and Transparency in Pakistan Media  for Pakistan Press Foundation/Internews ·        Effect of Covid-19 on Journalism. commissioned by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung   Official Nominations: ·       Working Group on Climate Change and Security formed under the National Security Division and Strategic Policy Planning for the preparation of the National Security Policy ·       Member of the National Climate Change Council under the Federal Ministry of Climate Change ·       Multi-stakeholder National Coordinating Body of the Ministry of Climate Change, Government of Pakistan to set up Marine Protected Areas in Pakistan and am part of the team that saw through the declaration of Astola Island of Balochistan as Pakistan’s first MPA. ·       Curriculum Review Committee of Government of Sindh to assess gender balance and pluralism in primary school textbooks of 3 subjects ·       Review Committee to assess Climate Change content in Science and Geography Curriculum being developed under the Single National Curriculum ·       Consumer Protection Council announced by the Government of Sindh ·       Baaghban Core Group of Karachi Municipal Corporation’s Horticulture Department. ·       Focal Person and Communications lead for the unique “Art for Climate Change” initiative began under the aegis of Ministry of Climate that has broadened outreach of Climate Change through the art community by taking them on retreats and exhibiting their outputs. Was part of the retreat in 2018 to Naran, and to the Sindh Delta under Government of Sindh banner in 2020. ·       Member of the Gender Based Violence Sub Committee of the Sindh Commission for Human Rights ·       Member of Fact-Finding Committee for the archives verification at National Museum, Karachi ·       Was a member of the first ever rafting expedition on the river Indus which traversed from its entry point into Pakistan to where it drains into the Arabian Sea     I have moderated seminars, Panel discussions, Roundtables, Inception report launches etc for UNDP Small Grants Programme, UNDP Climate Finance in Bangkok, WWF Pakistan, IDRC/Kings College London/IBA Karachi, World Bank ‘Pakistan @100’ launch in Karachi to name a few.   Have ghost written, edited and translated several books and reports of some leading personalities and organizations.   Have also done third party qualitative assessment of projects.   Fellowships:   ·       Fellow of Lead Pakistan (Cohort 16) under its Leadership Development Programme on the subject of Green Economies and completed an additional Fellowship on Indus Basin Benefit Sharing. ·       GRID graduate, which is a leadership development course. ·       Completed a course from on Water from  LUMS Water In Technology School ·       Received scholarship by International Labor Organization for an online course on Gender from its ITC in Turin, Italy. ·       Am an IAF alumni, having completed a course on Liberalism, Environment & Property Rights. ·       Participated in a short course in Women in Executive Leadership at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia on a fellowship from Australia Awards. ·       Was an Journalists Exchange Programme participant of US Consulate on CVE (Countering Violent Extremism)   Memberships and Associations: ·       Advisor for National Forum for Environment & Health, Bolo Bhi, a digital rights research policy and advocacy organization ·       Member of  WWF Pakistan, IUCN Commission on Education and Communications, and IUCN CEESP Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy. ·       Core Group for Water Energy & Food Nexus for Sindh and Universities for Water Network created by the Hisaar Foundation ·       Think tank on Hoga Saaf Pakistan   Member Steering Committee: ·       Alliance on Diversity and Pluralism in Media, ·       Urban Forest Coalition Civil Society Organizations: Trustee and Chair of Board of Indus Earth Trust, a rural development organization Trustee of Helpline Trust, which focuses on consumer and civic rights Trustee of Saneeya Hussain Trust that assists in girls’ higher education, as a President Executive Committee of Baanhn Beli Founding Board member and Vice President Salman Sufi Foundation Member Advisory Committee of FFOP (Faith For Our Planet)     My website is being redone and will be accessible at www.afiasalam.com Some information of my work is available at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afia_Salam   I have traveled to Japan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Thailand, India, UAE, Kenya, Poland, Germany, Netherlands, France, Saudi Arabia, Nepal, UK, USA, and Australia in an official as well personal capacity.                                                                                                                                                                        

Next Post

Ladies try to rescue our threatened forests, but timber mafia still active!

Comments 3

  1. Defenders says:
    10 years ago

    there is always another side of the story please read local news http://www.dailybaadeshimal.com/ and Pamir Times the problem is no simple my dears
    also see other local dailies of GB
    Will your heroes in Islamabad pay back the price already paid by timber dealers., who will pay the local peoples who own this forests. Have to pay 25 rupees per foot to owners of forests. Contractors have to pay for timber cutting and removals and wait for decades to get a new policy approved. this time it took 5 years and we can not wait any more

    Reply
    • afiasalam says:
      10 years ago

      I don’t know how this comment got posted on another article

      Reply
  2. Asif says:
    10 years ago

    We need a national dialogue with free minds on this issue and let legislators be in the center everything has to be transparent

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recommended.

What does the society expect of its women!

July 11, 2015

Women in Media

August 25, 2012

Trending.

Treacherous weather

June 5, 2014

From physical to digital

May 22, 2016

Beware The Elements

November 21, 2012

Heritage Under Threat

January 23, 2011
Remembering Baba e Mangroves Late Tahir Qureshi on #WMD22

Remembering Baba e Mangroves Late Tahir Qureshi on #WMD22

July 26, 2022
Afia salam

Media consultant and trainer, content developer/editor, documentary concept and script writer, presenter/producer.
Currently working as free lance journalist and media trainer, especially in the field of Environmental journalism.

Follow Us

POWERED by WIMA

Categories

  • advocacy
  • Blog
  • Disaster Response
  • Environment
  • Gender
  • History
  • Hum Awam
  • Media
  • Media, Advertising & Branding
  • Miscellaneous
  • Off The Cuff
  • Politics
  • Societal Issues
  • The Afia Salam Show
  • Uncategorized

Tags

Adaptation Afia Salam Balochistan Bangladesh Change Children Civilization Climate Change Cricket Culture December 16 1971 disaster England Environment Floods glaciers Government History India Internet IUCN Journalism Journalists justice Karachi Mangroves Media Nature Pakistan Pakistanis Politics PTI Senate Sindh Speak For Change Sports Technology USA VAW Water women Work working women World Youth

Recent News

Remembering Baba e Mangroves Late Tahir Qureshi on #WMD22

Remembering Baba e Mangroves Late Tahir Qureshi on #WMD22

July 26, 2022

Learning from Steve Jobs

October 6, 2020

Developed by Jareeullah Shah

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • About
    • Profile
    • Portfolio
    • Expertise
  • Blog
  • Videos
  • Societal Issues
  • Stories
  • Mind Over Matter
  • Contact
Upload
  • Login

Developed by Jareeullah Shah

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In