Breathe Pakistan: Marriyum Aurangzeb highlights Punjab’s first climate resilience policy

The second and final day of DawnMedia’s ‘Breathe Pakistan’ global climate conference has begun on Friday, bringing together experts and leaders to find solutions to climate change with them calling for urgent funding to power adaptation initiatives to respond to threats posed by changing environmental and climatic conditions.

Day one of the moot began at 10am and concluded past 6pm at Islamabad’s Jinnah Convention Centre after a marathon session of discussions, keynote addresses, and speeches by various experts and dignitaries elaborating on issues, challenges, opportunities and solutions related to climate change and pollution.

10:14am — Aban Marker Kabraji speaks on Living Indus

The project began from the call by the UN Secretary General on the triple planetary crisis; the crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution.

9:58am — Romina Khurshid Alam welcomes Zunaira Qayyum Baloch

The Coordinator to the Prime Minister on Climate Change noted that Pakistan stands at a defining moment in its climate journey. “As a country on the frontline of climate change, we face mounting challenges, extreme weather patterns, water scarcity and environmental degradation.”

However, Pakistan is not defined by these challenges alone, she went on to say. “We are defined by our resilience and our ability to overcome adversity,” she said. “We are not merely passive victims of climate change, we are active participants in foraging solutions.”

She highlighted that this was a question of justice; “Pakistan is paying the price of something created by others”. Alam added that the devastating loss of life and critical infrastructure in the recent floods is all the more reason that Pakistan must leave no stone unturned in its effort to rescue, rehabilitate and rebuild.

9:32am — Senior Minister Government Of Punjab Marriyum Aurangzeb has begun speaking

The senior minister has dedicated her keynote address to speaking about the Punjab climate experience over the past 12 months. “We had to take a comprehensive, holistic, integrated, multisectoral approach towards climate resilience across Punjab,” she said while addressing severe floods, heatwaves, hazardous air quality and water shortages in South Punjab.

Punjab has formulated its first climate resilience policy through the lens of adaptation and mitigation, with climate justice being central to the policy. Rs10 billion has been allocated to smog mitigation, while Rs100bn has been allocated to climate resilience projects across Punjab.

While noting that climate change transcends borders, Aurangzeb unveiled that Pakistan has begun its dialogue with India and written a letter to the foreign ministry to initiate dialogue with countries in the region that have a direct impact on the air quality.

9:27am — Planning, Development & Special Initiatives For Pakistan Ahsan Iqbal

The planning minister suggested that the United Nations create some form of a global environmental tax on the polluters, and from that tax money there should be a fund which should help developing countries in the Global South meet the challenges of climate change.

Speakers

The conference will have a roundtable to inspire dialogue between the government and the corporate sector and explore sustainable public-private partnerships, which will be attended by Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar and Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, among others.

A session on agriculture, forestry, and food systems in climate change will be attended by agriculture and forestry experts at which Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Representative Florence Rolle, Climate Change Ministry Secretary Aisha Humera Chaudhry, and former climate change minister Malik Amin Aslam will speak.

In the concluding session of the conference today (February 7), former prime minister and Senate Chairman Yousaf Raza Gilani will address the audience.

Other speakers include climate expert Ali Tauqeer Sheikh, British High Commissioner Jane Marriott, Petroleum Minister Senator Musadik Malik, climate activist Karishma Ali, and youth activist Zunaira Qayyum Baloch, among others.