National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf on Friday said the Parliament of Pakistan would continue its role in making the country disaster resilient and climate adaptive for a sustainable and healthy future for the coming generations. He was addressing the concluding ceremony of the third-day first ever Pakistan Expo on Disaster Risk Reduction 2023 (PEDRR-23). Raja Pervaiz Ashraf in his keynote address congratulated the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and National Disaster Risk Management Fund (NDRMF) for organising the important forum of PEDRR-23. He also appreciated the experts, speakers and others for their valuable contributions shared at different seminars, and dialogues held during the Expo. He said the NDMA had rightly placed global focus on putting capacity building of vulnerable countries like Pakistan. “The country being among the top ten countries most vulnerable to climate change despite less than one percent of carbon emissions was similar to face the outcome of what that it had not done,” he added. The Speaker underscored that the monster monsoon floods of 2022 badly disrupted life in Pakistan whereas the international community was forthcoming in supporting the country. He added that the already ailing economy of Pakistan could not sustain another disaster with inadequate capacity.
The National Assembly Speaker said the country realised that national preparedness was more economic than financing post-disaster initiatives. He said, “We must improve technical archiving and knowledge-based decision making for effective disaster management.”
Raja Ashraf mentioned that he was briefed on the NDMA efforts along with other partners in shaping locally made national plans for disaster management and risk reduction. The Speaker mentioned that cloud bursts, glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs), torrential rains and heatwaves were beyond human control but to respond to it was in its capacity. “National Assembly, SDGs taskforce and standing committees are always at the forefront of government’s climate decisions’ scrutiny,” he added. “I have personally raised the issue of Pakistan’s vulnerability and food security due to climate change at various regional and international forums. Let’s join hands and act as climate activists to mitigate climate change risks effectively,” he said.
