ISLAMABAD: Former Convener of Parliamentary Taskforce on SDGs Riaz Fatyana on Wednesday said that Pakistan has excellent legislation and policy frameworks in terms of environment-friendly development and industrialization, but lacks capacity and commitment with the cause of implementing sustainable development goals (SDGs), thus, concerted efforts should be made to address the issues of sustainable development and better environment.
He was speaking at a panel discussion on ‘Review of Selected Goals for HLPF 2023 in South Asia’ on the 3rd day of Sustainable Development Conference (SDC) organized by Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) and jointly held alongside UNESCAP’s 6th South and Southwest Asia High-level Political Forum and Policy Dialogue on SDGs. The 4-day conference is being held in Islamabad from 5-8 December 2022.
Mr Fatyana added that there is a huge funding gap in effective city management, so the capacity of the city governments needs to be improved to make our cities livable places. He was of the view that increasing air pollution and other forms of urban pollution have become serious challenges which require extensive mass awareness campaigns.
Dr Imtiaz Ahmed, Economic Advisor for Ministry of Finance, earlier highlighted the importance of knowledge sharing to address the developmental and environment-related issues in the region. From effective town planning to dealing with issues such as water scarcity, unavailability of clean water, lack of health and education infrastructure, regional countries need to enhance cooperation to learn from each other about their best practices.
Dr Posh Raj Pandey, Chairman, SAWTEE, Nepal, and Mr Kewal Prasad Bhandari, Secretary, National Planning Commission, Nepal, earlier shared the recommendations finalized through a group discussion amongst the panelists.
The experts highlighted that although South Asian countries are somehow making progress to achieve SDGs, especially related to provision of basic services to the population, serious issues such us inclusive development, sustainable urbanization, responsible industrialization, and the basic services such as health and education are not available to a majority population in the broader terms. They highlighted the importance of enhancing regional cooperation amongst the South Asia countries, especially to help each other in achieving SDGs for sustainable and inclusive development.
