Climate ministry official urges dedicated environmental police units for enhanced compliance

The federal and provincial environmental protection agencies (EPAs) should have their own police forces or dedicated enforcement units to ensure environmental compliance and implementation of the environmental regulations, a top official of the Federal Ministry of Climate Change and Environmental Coordination said on Friday.

“As compliance of environmental standards is not easy, EPAs should take steps for building the capacity of their staff and establish dedicated enforcement units or police forces to enforce their laws,” Asif Hyder Shah, federal secretary for climate change and environmental coordination, said at a dialogue on ‘Strengthening Environmental Compliance and Governance’ in Karachi.

The event, organized by the WWF-Pakistan under its project, International Labour and Environmental Standards Application in Pakistan’s SMEs (ILES), supported by the European Union (EU) in collaboration with the International Labor Organization (ILO), aimed to address challenges in environmental compliance.

Shah commended some textile and leather industries for their adherence to national and international environmental standards but urged others to follow suit. He stressed the importance of timely reporting multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) and called for increased private sector involvement in environmental sustainability efforts.

Highlighting Pakistan’s vulnerability to climate change despite its minimal greenhouse gas emissions contribution, Shah emphasized the need for improved climate adaptation and resilience strategies.

Since the 18th amendment to Pakistan’s constitution in 2010, environmental governance became a provincial matter, resulting in the development of separate environmental protection agencies across provinces. To bridge knowledge gaps among EPAs, the WWF-Pakistan organised the dialogue, drawing representatives from federal and provincial EPAs, including Sindh, Punjab, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), and Gilgit-Baltistan.

Speakers at the event emphasized the importance of strengthening inter-provincial and federal-provincial coordination to enhance compliance with multilateral environmental agreements and achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through collaboration and capacity building.

Dr Masood Arshad, senior director programmes at WWF-Pakistan, underscored the essential role of environmental standards in Pakistan’s sustainable development, particularly in industries like textiles and leather, crucial for the country’s GDP.

Waqar Hussain Phulpoto, director technical at the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa), praised WWF-Pakistan’s efforts for capacity building and technology transfer. However, he noted Sepa’s weak enforcement capacity due to the lack of its own law enforcement force. Sohail Ali Naqvi, director of Lead Sustainability and Stewardship at the WWF-Pakistan, highlighted the project’s engagement with textile and leather enterprises for environmental compliance and the drafting of cleaner policies for the Sindh province.

The dialogue concluded with an emphasis on the need for regular assessments and monitoring of the industrial sector, as well as continuous consultation and discussion on environmental compliance mechanisms. Participants included Samiullah Khan, director general of the Environmental Protection Agency, KPK; Arjmand Qayum Amjad, senior manager at the WWF-Pakistan; and Mehak Sikander, coordinator of the ILES project.