ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday said that the environmental policies of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government were receiving global recognition.
In a tweet, the prime minister said that the government’s green recovery initiative from the Covid-19 pandemic and the climate action plan were being appreciated by the world.
Globally PTI’s environment policies are being recognised esp our green recovery programme from the Covid 19 pandemic and our Climate action plan. pic.twitter.com/cHuCzCj2yQ
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) March 14, 2021
According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), Pakistan was building a greener future in three ways: it had pledged to source 60 per cent of energy from renewables by 2030,
cancelled coal projects replacing them with hydroelectric power and created more than 85,000 green jobs from plant care to protection of forests.
Pakistan was also training 5,000 young people to be nature guardians, the forum observed.
In July, the government, in a move to generate jobs amid the Covid-19 pandemic while boosting conservation and curbing the impacts of climate change, announced the creation of the country’s first National Parks Service.
Under it, the country aims to get more local communities involved in running national parks and earning an income as they protect nearby conservation areas.
The project aimed to create up to 5,000 new jobs, mainly for young people who will work as park guards and custodians, and boost eco-tourism in the country, authorities said.
The country was investing in green space and had attracted $180 million in funding and it was working towards the creation of 15 new national parks, the WEF said.
The government was also launching a $500 million green Eurobond and will soon provide a monetary valuation of its green space making its worth clear and easier to protect.
“As the pandemic devastated the globe and climate change threatened our way of life, our relationship with nature demanded a rethink. One million animal and plant species worldwide were at risk of extinction,” the video noted.
Experts say Pakistan is facing enormous environmental challenges. A survey conducted by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) found that respondents prioritised three key environmental issues: rising temperatures, water shortages, and air pollution.
When Khan was sworn in as the prime minister in August 2018, he pledged to plant billions of trees to tackle the effects of climate change.
Malik Amin Aslam, the environment minister, said the Billion Tree Tsunami Programme would see trees planted nationwide, including in the four provincial capitals.
That followed a vast tree-planting project between 2013 and 2018 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) by the PTI.
“PTI is a party with a green promise,” Aslam said, adding that the combination of environmental degradation and damage due to climate issues was costing 3 to 4 percent of the country’s near-$300 billion economy annually.
