ISLAMABAD: The Upper House of parliament on Friday passed the Pakistan Climate Change Bill, 2017, and enacted it into a law, paving the way for strengthening the country’s institutional ability and propping up efforts to cope with delirious impacts of climate change on various socio-economic sectors, particularly agriculture, water and health.
By doing that, Pakistan has become the fifth country in the world to adopt a comprehensive legislation on the issue.
The legislation was passed to meet the country’s obligations under international conventions relating to climate change and address its effects.
Federal Minister for Climate Change and Law and Justice Senator Zahid Hamid introduced the legislation in the Senate.
Speaking at the occasion, Zahid Hamid said that Pakistan ranks 153rd in greenhouse gas emitting countries but it was the seventh country most vulnerable to climate change.
He added that the country was likely to produce four times more greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, and would need $40 billion to mitigate the effects.
During the debate in the Senate prior to the approval, the move to promulgate the Climate Change Act was appreciated by the opposition, which acknowledged its unprecedented significance. Senators Sherry Rehman and Azam Swati commented that this law was need of the hour.
The federal minister said that as proposed in the law, efforts would be expedited to establish the Pakistan Climate Change Council to be chaired by the prime minister.
“The council will also comprise chief ministers and ministers holding the environment and climate change portfolios of all provinces and three administrative units – Gilgit-Baltistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).”
Moreover, he said that the advisory body of the council would consist of 30 other members, 20 of them from non-governmental organisations, researchers, scientists, technical experts and educationists concerned with climate change.
It may be mentioned here that the layout report of Senate Standing Committee on Climate Change was presented by Senator Samina Abid on March 16 in the Senate. The National Assembly has already approved this act.
On February 28, Sindh Assembly member Shafi Muhammad Jamot said that the province was more prone to climate change due to its geographical location as compared to the rest of the country.
Addressing those in attendance at the launch of ‘Climate Public Expenditure Review’, Jamot said that the government had established a separate department to handle environment-related issues.
Other speakers also urged that budgetary allocations by the provincial government are insufficient to tackle threats of climate change. Pakistan is among the world’s top 10 countries vulnerable to climate change and can experience adverse impacts if the issue is not handled adequately by the government, stated another speaker.
