Climate Change Authority Requires Unified Effort: Attorney General

News Desk

Islamabad: “Climate Change Authority is the sole executive body where the Prime Minister and provincial governments collaborate with a comprehensive approach. However, strong local governments are crucial to boosting climate resilience,” stated Attorney General Mansoor Awan.

He highlighted that although the Climate Change Act was passed in 2017, it took seven years and a court order for the government to initiate the establishment of the Climate Change Authority.

These insights were shared during a panel discussion on climate governance held in Islamabad on Saturday. 

The panelists urged the government to improve climate finance implementation mechanisms and develop coherent strategies to ensure climate resilience.

The panel discussion, titled “Climate Governance,” was part of the climate change conference “Navigating Climate Governance: Executive Action and Judicial Oversight,” organized by the Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan at the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

Eazaz Dar, Secretary of the Ministry of Climate Change and Environmental Coordination, emphasized that climate change impacts all forms of life.

 He stressed that coordination, cooperation, and collective responsibility are essential for addressing climate change effectively. 

Dar noted that no government could manage the situation alone without the active participation of society, the judiciary, and other societal sectors. 

He also highlighted governance and institutional challenges, as well as capacity constraints in accessing climate finance, as significant obstacles to the country’s climate resilience.

On climate diplomacy, Dar mentioned Pakistan’s involvement in various international bodies, including serving as co-chair of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and as a member of the Loss and Damage Fund, despite limited resources.

Hammad Naqi Khan, Director General of WWF-Pakistan, remarked that while climate finance is widely agreed upon, many commitments under the global climate fund or Loss and Damage Fund remain unfulfilled.

He criticized the GCF for its bureaucratic complexities and urged the Pakistani bureaucracy to overcome these challenges to ensure the smooth deployment of climate investments aimed at enhancing the country’s resilience.

Muhammad Idrees Mahsud, Member of Disaster Risk Reduction at the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), observed that the country’s weather patterns are undergoing drastic changes due to global warming.

He pointed out that while the NDMA and provincial disaster management authorities (PDMAs) are robust, the district disaster management authorities need strengthening in the face of increasing climate crises.

Dr Abid Qaiyum Suleri, Executive Director of the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), stated that the country’s climate agenda is based on two pillars: climate policy and institutions.

He emphasized that climate change is not just a federal issue but also a provincial one.

Sectors such as agriculture, food, irrigation, forestry, wildlife, and seed development, along with their international and multinational counterparts, must work together to protect agriculture from the adverse impacts of climate change.

Dr Suleri highlighted the need to develop independent and financially robust authorities like the Climate Change Authority to ensure strong implementation of the climate agenda rather than relying on mere lip service.

 “A victim mentality will not take us anywhere. The flood damages in 2022 amounted to $30 billion, and local communities spent $3 billion from their own budgets and savings to restore normalcy,” he said. 

He added that the country must unify policy, institutions, finances, and capacity enhancement of authorities to achieve climate resilience.

Ahmed Irfan Aslam, former Interim Climate Change Minister, noted that water is the most visible manifestation of climate change.

He pointed out that 70 percent of the world’s water is stored in glaciers, with Pakistan housing over 7,000 glaciers, the largest number outside the polar regions.

He added that inadequate water storage capacity, low system efficiency, significant groundwater depletion without regulation, and provincial-level neglect of the water issue are aggravating the water crisis. 

“Three fundamental issues—lack of storage, provincial capacity to develop localized storage facilities due to financial and capacity constraints, regulatory mechanisms for groundwater, and no resources diverted to make the canal system efficient—are driving the water crisis in the country,” he explained.