Heinrich Boell Stiftung along with other partners supported a stakeholder dialog titled “Framing the Pakistan Agenda for COP 22”. The event was held with two main objectives; firstly to discuss various issues pertaining to climate policy and future for Pakistan and its agenda during COP22. Secondly, the event was also a launch of a new initiative called “the Civil Society Coalition for Climate Change” (CSCCC), a new platform of like-minded organizations formed with the objective of raising awareness, strengthening adaptive capacity and fostering partnerships that will contribute towards building climate change resilience and reducing vulnerability in Pakistan. The CSCCC is led by the Mountains and Glaciers Protection Organization (MGPO).
The dialogue was an interaction between legislators, policy makers and civil society including media on the key elements of Pakistan’s Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC). A wide range of stakeholders came together to compile concrete suggestions for the challenges of adaptation and mitigation. The dialogue served as a prequel to the 22nd Conference of Parties (COP 22) hosted by Morocco on November 7-18, 2016.
The inaugural session of the dialogue was attended by the Federal Minister of Climate Change Mr. Zahid Hamid, Federal Secretary Climate Change, the Ambassadors’ of France and EU as well as the Charge d’ Affairs of the Kingdom of Morocco and the Country Director of UNDP. Closing remarks were made by Senator Javed Jabbar and Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Syed Tariq Fatemi.
The Minister for Climate Change announced that the Government of Pakistan in line with the Paris Agreement is establishing a National Climate Change Authority. The authority will guide and coordinate climate change related activities at all levels of governance. In addition to this the government also committed to strengthening the Global Change Impact Study Centre (GCISC) as a specialized institute for climate change research. The Minister shared the three point agenda of the Pakistani delegation to COP22;
- support the common position of developing countries as articulated by G-77;
- make efforts to ensure that the loss & damage mechanism have financial and other resources for mitigation and
- Pakistan’s climate change policies as mentioned in the Pakistan INDC document
The Civil Society representatives provided input for the finalization of the INDC document. They stressed on the need for clarity of responsibilities at both Federal and Provincial levels. They also spoke about the need for resources to carry out these actions. Civil Society representatives also identified the dwindling per-capita water resources and growing population as the main threat aggravating the already adverse impact of climate change in the country. It was noted by Senator Javed Jabbar that as the resource base worsened, community tendency to over-harvest resources was on the rise posing grave threat to conservation.
Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Mr. Fatemi while concluding the session advised that the action against climate change must be understood with reference to Pakistan’s national context.
