Reforms in environmental planning termed key to sustainable development

The speakers at a workshop on Thursday said that reforms in environmental planning was requisite to ensure sustainable development and all government departments, stakeholders should play their role in a coordinated manner for addressing issues and safeguarding environment.

The workshop titled “Unfolding environmental activities & determining need for future course of action” was organised by the Ministry of Climate Change (MoCC), Government of Pakistan along with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) under their Generating Global Environmental Benefits (GGEB) initiative.

The objective of the workshop was to inform participants with major environmental activities, identify areas of improvement, and determine the future course of action for the country.

Dr Saleem Janjua, country coordinator of UNDP-Pakistan of GGEB formally opened the workshop and in his key address presented the brief overview of the UN and government of Pakistan’s initiatives related to environment. GGEB programme aims to establish an integrated and robust Environmental Information Management System (EIMS) for Pakistan. Capacity building of relevant stakeholders is pertinently important, and this remains one of the key targets of GGEB project. Irfan Tariq, Director General (Environment), Ministry of Climate Change appreciated the efforts of UNDP for organizing workshop on an important topic and remarked the establishment of EIMS was vital for the environmental sustainability of Pakistan.

The remarks session was followed with a detailed talk by KM Zubair, Expert (Environment, Energy, Legal) titled “Unfolding Environmental Activities & Determining Need for Future Course of Action”.