Islamabad, Sep 18: Romina Khurshid Alam, the Prime Minister’s Coordinator on Climate Change and Environmental Coordination (MoCC&EC), stressed the importance of COP29 as a forum for Pakistan to showcase its climate initiatives, difficulties, and possible solutions.
The PM’s Assistant was speaking to development partners on Wednesday on UNFCCC 29th COP preparations.She emphasized the need for cooperation to accomplish climate diplomacy objectives, enhance gender equality, and advance smart agricultural programs through private sector engagement during her speech at a meeting with development partners.
Alam emphasized how urgent it is to combat climate change in Pakistan, one of the world’s most vulnerable nations. She emphasized that although while Pakistan produces less than 1% of the world’s carbon emissions, the country yet suffers greatly from climate-related calamities, such as floods and droughts that destroy livelihoods and infrastructure. Damages from the floods in 2022 alone were approximately 24 billion PKR.
In order to improve Pakistan’s participation in COP29 and raise climate money for adaption initiatives, she requested feedback from development partners. In addition, Alam emphasized the significance of gender parity in addressing climate change, citing a fruitful recent regional MPs’ conference in Islamabad that centered on empowering women in the green economy.
She hopes to campaign for justice regarding loss and harm caused by climate change and establish Pakistan as a proactive participant in international climate negotiations.The assistant to the prime minister stated that she is actively looking to work with the Business 20 (B20) nations to create regional solutions for environmental and climate change issues.
In keeping with the B20’s overarching theme for 2024, “Inclusive Growth for a Sustainable Future,” Romina emphasized the significance of inclusive growth initiatives. This theme includes a number of pillars that address urgent global challenges, such as resource efficiency and climate change.
She also underlined the significance of involving province governments in climate solutions, praising the Chief Minister of Punjab’s initiative in particular. The “Climate Change Policy & Action Plan 2024,” which attempts to address important climate issues like smog and environmental degradation, has been finalized by Punjab under her direction.
In her talk to the group, Secretary of the Ministry of Climate Change and Environmental Coordination Aisha Humera Ch stressed the need of having a clear plan in place to address climate change issues and offered her insightful knowledge on how Pakistan may be successful in the next COP 29 summit.
The development partners from various international organizations also exchanged ideas and strategies to improve Pakistan’s effectiveness in participating in COP29. Attending the meeting were representatives of international organizations, diplomatic embassies, and officials from the ministry of climate change, among other development partners.
