Caretaker Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Muhammad Sami Saeed on Wednesday chaired a meeting to review the progress on Climate Change-related projects, directing the quarters concerned to expedite the implementation process of the climate-resilient projects.
The meeting was attended by the Secretary of the Planning Ministry, Member Climate Change and Food Security besides other stakeholders, a news release said.
During the meeting, the Member Climate Change gave a detailed briefing on the projects initiated by the Planning Ministry, particularly under the ‘Resilient Recovery, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Framework’ (4RF).
He highlighted key initiatives taken by the Planning Ministry which include the National Climate Finance Strategy (NCFC), Climate Investment Plan and Sustainable Finance Bureau (SFB). Under these initiatives, he told climate funds set up by multilateral and bilateral institutions will be accessed.
He explained the functioning of SFB which has been established to provide advisory services to ministries and provinces to access sustainable finance funds and promote financing options such as bonds, insurance, credit enhancement and others.
The minister directed the quarters concerned to start the preparatory work for the upcoming COP28 to be held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
The government has devised a comprehensive 4RF framework, which proposed effective coordination and participation arrangements among federal and provincial governments, development partners, donors, international and national NGOs, academic and private sectors.
Last year, Pakistan faced an unprecedented devastation due to torrential rains and flooding in most parts of the country, which affected 33 million people and resulted in economic losses worth $30 billion. In response, the government devised the 4RF framework under which, the development projects are being executed across the country to make the infrastructure ‘resilient.’
Highlighting the significance of the climate-resilient infrastructure, Minister Sami Saeed said the government was committed to adopting a climate-resilient infrastructure.
“Climate change is now a reality which requires continuous work from the formulation of an action plan to its implementation.”
The minister emphasized the need to increase capacity at the central and provincial levels to deal with natural disasters.—APP
