HU Earth Day event: government urged to introduce climate-friendly policies
Speakers at a symposium urged the government to take effective and concrete measures to protect rapidly-deteriorating environment in the country by introducing and implementing climate-friendly policies. The Earth Day symposium was organised by Habib University (HU) at its auditorium, here on Saturday.
Adjunct Professor HU Urban Planning Farhan Anwar said that more than 75 percent of global population would live in urban environment by 2050. He said battles related to climate change would be fought in urban landscape. “Pakistan is urbanising at faster rate than any other country in South Asia,” Anwar said.
Focusing legal aspects, environmental lawyer Rafay Alam, cited cases and positive precedents set by Pakistan’s judiciary in favour of environmental protection. He said major environmental issues being faced by Pakistan include water pollution, air pollution and climate change. Among developing world, he said, Pakistan had been at the forefront on environmental issues since the 1960s.
“Progress has been made towards achieving sustainable development goals (SDG) in Pakistan, said Jawed Ali Khan, program manager UN-Habitat, noting that Parliament of Pakistan is the first in the world to adopt SDGs as its National Development Goals. He said provincial governments had also been allocated funds to achieve these targets. He said provinces had their own challenges and opportunities in achieving SDGs.
Environmental activist Taufiq Pasha said the issue of pollution was not only in cities but it was prevalent in the outskirts of cities as well. “Every bucket of water that exists in our country is polluted. Air and soil too are polluted,” he said, stressing the need to adopt innovative and technological approach to sort out issues of environmental degradations.
Lecturer at Habib University Tajreen Midhat emphasised on greater understanding about connection between development and environment. “US and Europe are major contributors to carbon emissions in global economies,” she said, adding that Pakistan is 7th most vulnerable country when it comes to climate change.
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