World Bank to support govt’s green recovery initiatives

ISLAMABAD: The World Bank has committed financial, technological and knowledge resources to support Pakistan’s green recovery initiatives in forestry, environmental protection, and climate change resilience to restore people’s lives and livelihoods affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The commitment was made during a meeting between World Bank’s Country Director to Pakistan Najy Benhassine and Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam. The director was leading a three-member delegation, a statement said on Thursday.

World Bank and Ministry of Climate Change agreed to work closely in various areas, including environmental development, climate change adaptation and mitigation, air pollution reduction, forest management, and disaster risk mitigation at the meeting, the statement said.

“It is really amazing and inspiring that despite limited financial resources, Pakistan launched green stimulus initiative under Clean Green Pakistan Programme, which has led to creation of thousands of green jobs for those rendered unemployed due to COVID-19 pandemic.”

He lauded the government’s initiatives for economic recovery, afforestation, wildlife conservation, and resilience against adverse impacts of climate change on water, energy, agriculture, food security, health, education, and lives and livelihoods of vulnerable rural and mountain communities.

Benhassine said the World Bank would support Pakistan in its initiatives to support climate-vulnerable socioeconomic sectors.

Aslam thanked Benhassine for conveying the World Bank’s commitment for supporting the present government’s post-COVID 19 recovery through the Green Stimulus Programme initiated under the Ten Billion Tree Tsunami Programme (TBTTP). Both sides vowed to tackle negative fallouts of the present global health crisis and global warming on various socio-economic sectors of the country for achieving equitable and inclusive social and economic growth and mitigating poverty and diseases.