Spadework completed to launch Nature Performance Bond

Islamabad: The climate change ministry has prepared a set of performance indicators to launch Nature Performance Bond that would help raise funds, which would be available for allocation through the normal budget process.

The information shared by some officials of the ministry revealed that the performance indicators have been built around the Ten Billion Tree Tsunami Programme, Clean Green Pakistan, Protected Areas Initiatives, and ecological rehabilitation in newly-declared national parks.

Pakistan seized the idea on World Environment Day in June last year and signed a declaration with three sovereign creditors -- Canada, Germany, and the United Kingdom --to launch a dialogue with a view to issuing a Nature Performance Bond.

An official said that Nature Performance Bond would be tied to measurable targets for restoring wetlands, protecting forests, and reducing threats to wildlife and plant species, but would allow for general use of proceeds.

“In exchange for certified performance against agreed indicators, funding is released into the target economy, to be used in line with national priorities,” he said.