FEDERAL Minister for Climate Change and Environmental Coordination Senator Musadik Malik announced on Thursday that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had directed to prepare a comprehensive 300-day implementation plan within 15 days to address the mounting challenges of climate change, including the risks posed by monsoon rains and accelerated glacial melting.
The directives came a day after the PM declared a climate and agricultural emergency in view of the ongoing monsoon rains and flood situation across the country.
The revelation made by the Minister at a news conference is a welcome development as it indicates the government is determined to put in place necessary measures before the start of the monsoon season next year. It is also important to note that the government intends to depend on home-grown solutions to mitigate the impact of floods and rains in future as dependence on foreign aid means considerable delays in implementation as we have already witnessed in the case of commitments made by donors following the climate disaster of 2022. Malik said the climate action plan would be finalized within a month and stressed the government’s commitment to preparedness and resilience. An important aspect of the plan is that it is being prepared with the active collaboration of the real stakeholders – four provinces, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir – which were badly affected by the ongoing floods and unusual rains. We hope that the exercise being carried out by the government will also look into the monumental failure of the Federal Flood Commission as it could not deliver on its mandate for the development and maintenance of flood protection and control systems in the country.
There are reasons to believe that besides the lack of required level of coordination with the provinces, the Commission was not assigned necessary importance and resources to fulfil its responsibilities and future plans should take care of these and other issues. The country is spending billions of rupees for rescue, relief and rehabilitation operations in the wake of the devastating floods and it is better to invest this money to mitigate such damages in future. To begin with, the Federal Government should extend a helping hand to the provinces in removing encroachments in the way of smooth flow of rivers and streams. This does not require huge resources but a strong will to act against violators of laws and regulations. The proposed plan should also focus on application of latest technologies, know-how and gadgets for early warning and flood control, which means, among other things, upgradation of the systems and technical skills of institutions like the Pakistan Meteorological Department and the Flood Commission.
