Dedicated unit for Green Pakistan Programme soon

Islamabad

We will have a dedicated unit to monitor progress on Green Pakistan Programme at Ministry of Climate Change in first week of May, while the World Bank has also showed interest to join the programme.

This was stated by Prime Minister Focal Person on Green Pakistan Program Syed Rizwan Mehboob during a meeting of the steering committee on Green Pakistan Programme at the Ministry of Climate Change here on Wednesday.

The meeting was presided over by Secretary of the Ministry of Climate Change Syed Abu Ahmed Akif.

The secretary said the purpose of the meeting was to smoothly implement green Pakistan Program and identify any issues faced by the provinces.

"It is important to ensure flow of funds uninterrupted. The private sector should be involved through a transparent process."

The PM Focal Person on Green Pakistan Programme briefed the participants about progress on the programme.

He said funds had been transferred to provinces for forestry. The funds for wildlife have been approved from planning commission. They shall be disbursed also after getting administrative approval. He also briefed about the terms of reference of steering committee. The two three meetings should be held annually to monitor progress report. We have to ensure quality.

"We must take care that people consciousness should increase as a result of intervention through implementation of Green   Pakistan Program. All provinces and federating units briefed about their performance."

Siddique Khan Chief Conservator Forest of Khyber Pukhtunkhawa informed that they have no excessive budget to surrender at the end of this financial year. Sindh informed that People are in place to implement Green Pakistan Program. The provincial units will also be established and targets will be achieved. Abdul Basir from Fata informed that we are working on Green Pakistan program through local trees. We have involved schools and local people for awareness.

Babar Khan Chief Conservator Forest from Azad Jamu and Kashmir informed that 300-acre land in Muzaffarhabad is being used to grow trees. We mostly focused on developing nurseries under Green Pakistan Programme.

Syed Ali Imran conservator forest from Baluchistan informed that we have initiated two processes 1) Notification of provincial steering committee 2) Notification of program director. We have also requested for matching grant in our province.

Sajjad Hassan Secretary Forest Gilgit-Baltistan informed that financial plan for 2017-18 has been submitted to Ministry of Climate Change. We also focused on water shed and soil conservation in our plans.

The efforts of Higher Education Commission were also highlighted in involving students.

Fiza Ali Chief Minister Punjab Focal Person on Gender, highlighted that engage those private sectors that have international obligations for environment.