Pakistan Archive

Heinrich Boell Stiftung (hbs) Pakistan organized an event to acknowledge the contributions of the cohort of Journalists on environment 

Heinrich Boell Stiftung Islamabad-Pakistan's 's Ecology Programme coordinator, Mome Saleem organized and moderated a panel discussion on climate change and security dynamics at the 13th International Conference of the Bled Strategic Forum in Bled, Slovenia. The panel featured prominent leaders such as Former President of the Republic of Slovenia, Danilo Turk and Dean, Pardee School of Global Studies, Boston Univeersity and Former Vice Chancellor, Lahore University of Management Sciences (Pakistan), DR. Adil Najam.  

This article aims to understand Government writ towards conservation coupled with citizen action and how Pakistan is at a unique placement for increased green efforts. In an ongoing effort to conserve green spaces and practices,  Reclaiming Green Islamabad (RGI) celebrated 71 years of Pakistan by holding a plantation drive named, ‘Plant for Pakistan’. The plantation drive was supported by Heinrich Boell Stiftung - a German Green Foundation operational in the country since the past 25 years.   

A small group discussion concerning Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) was held at the office of the Heinrich Boell Stiftung (hbs) Pakistan in 2017. Experts from the field of environment and former government officials who had been part of the EIA process were brought together. Some environment journalists were also in attendance.

The “Pakistan Climate Change Portal” is an online repository of Pakistan-specific knowledge on the subject of climate change. It has been developed by the Civil Society Coalition for Climate Change (CSCCC), a registered consortium of civil society organizations working for climate action in Pakistan, and made possible with financial assistance from Heinrich Boll Stiftung and European Union.  

Representatives of political parties and civil society all echoed in same voice for the increased representation and participation of women in decision-making forums in the political and social arena by ensuring level-playing field to them. They shared these views at the launching of the Gender Action Manifesto, policy paper, organised by the Heinrich Boell Stiftung in collaboration with the Women's Parliamentarian Caucus on 13th October, 2017 in Islamabad.

Heinrich Böll Stiftung (HBS) Pakistan through its project “Journalists on Resource Equity and Climate Change” organized a workshop followed by a capacity building field visit for environmental journalists based in Lahore, to highlight the environmental degradation caused by cement factories in Kahoon Valley, District Chakwal. The three cement factories in Chakwal have already led to fast depletion of natural ponds and groundwater resources. Still two more factories are pushing their way into the beautiful valley thus threatening the remnants of environmental, social, economic and biological life of the local communities. The news reports prepared by the journalists after the field visit have brought about tremendous attention of the provincial government and the judiciary to this issue.

The Civil Society Coalition for Climate Change (CSCCC) was formed to strengthen civil society's active participation in decision making processes on climate change in Pakistan. As a proponent of collective action towards climate change Heinrich Boell Stiftung Pakistan thought it worthwhile to support CSCCC.

It is not always the lack of attention from policy makers but their capacities and knowledge on environment related issues that put environment on the back-burner. In Pakistan unfortunately there is less sensitivity about environment and ecological considerations in policy making circles.

The World Wind Energy Association (WWEA) and Heinrich Bӧll Stiftung Pakistan (hbs) have been working together for the growth of Renewable Energy (RE) in Pakistan since 2013. In 2017 both partners are joining hands once more for holding RE Dialogues across Pakistan. Some of the main reasons of slower RE growth in Pakistan are lack of coordination between federal and provincial governments with regards to RE development, and lack of awareness among different federal and provincial agencies about their mandate relating to RE deployment especially, after 18th amendment to the Constitution. The RE dialogues assess institutional landscapes of RE at federal as well as provincial levels through engaging multi-stakeholders from government, civil society and the private sector.

The World Wind Energy Association (WWEA) and Heinrich Bӧll Stiftung Pakistan (hbs) have been working together for the growth of Renewable Energy (RE) in Pakistan since 2013. In 2017 both partners are joining hands once more for holding RE Dialogues across Pakistan. Some of the main reasons of slower RE growth in Pakistan are lack of coordination between federal and provincial governments with regards to RE development, and lack of awareness among different federal and provincial agencies about their mandate relating to RE deployment especially, after 18th amendment to the Constitution. The RE dialogues assess institutional landscapes of RE at federal as well as provincial levels through engaging multi-stakeholders from government, civil society and the private sector.

For the past three years (2015 to 2017) Heinrich Boell Stiftung Pakistan (hbs) under the banner of the campaign titled, “There is no planet B” started engaging journalists, youth, civil society on issues related to climate change and it’s impacts in Pakistan. The objective of the campaign is to mainstream environment conservation and climate change discourse in society as a whole and to push related policies. One successful initiatives is the formation of a cohort, “Journalists on Climate Change and Resource Equity” to familiarize journalists with the global and local climate debate and enhance their capacity to analyze climate related issues through in-house trainings and exposure visits.

On 14th August 2017- Reclaiming Green Islamabad (RGI) celebrated the 70th birthday (Independence Day) of Pakistan by launching its first activity; a plantation drive supported by the Heinrich Boell Stiftung. The aim of the activity was to raise awareness on environmental issues and translate words into action with regards to climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation.

Heinrich Boell Stiftung Pakistan is geared towards enlarging knowledge and expertise in order to enable CSOs and government to negotiate and contribute to the implementation of climate change resilient initiatives. In this regards, it implements and supports programmes and initiatives that help transition towards the goal it has set for itself. One such initiative is the series of consultative dialogues between Civil Society and the Ministry of Climate Change (MoCC). The aim of the dialogues series is to frame Pakistan’s agenda at COP 23. The initiative is being implemented by the Mountain and Glacier Protection Organization (MGPO) under the banner of Civil Society Coalition for Climate Change (CSCCC). The proposed dialogues will deliberate on the following climate change thematic areas: (i) Adaptation & Mitigation, (ii) Loss & Damage, (iii) Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), (iv) Means of Implementation (MoI), (v) New Market Mechanisms, (vi) Transparency & MRV. The proceedings of the consultative dialogue series will be compiled and published in the form of a report. The first dialog on Adaptation & Mitigation took place on 18th July 2017.

The provincial level resource equity dialogs were initiated based on the recommendations from the Federal level dialog on resource equity. The topic for each dialog at provincial level was selected around the water, land and energy nexus which was defined through the federal level dialog. The framework of each dialog was set around hbs' resource equity memo-“Resource Politics for a Fair Future”, so that the participants could be introduced to the global debate on resource equity.  Province-specific ecological case studies were also shared based on the book titled “Water in the Wilderness” to create a wider understanding of the basic ecological landscape of the province.  

Political empowerment of women cannot be made possible without changing the patriarchal mindset within political parties, participants at a consultation on “Gender Action Manifesto” highlighted. The consultation was held in Karachi on April 20, 2017as part of a series of such activities being organsied by the Heinrich Boell Stiftung (hbs) at provincial and national level under its “Gender Action Manifesto” project.

Heinrich Boell Stiftung in collaboration with Sustainable Development Policy Institute held a panel titled, “Sustainable Energy Solutions for the Region” at the Sustainable Development Conference in December 2016.  The objective of the panel was to foster learning around renewable energies across countries in Asia in the wake of climate change and increased demand for energy due to population increase and development plans.

Under the umbrella of the Regional Green Dialogs project and in collaboration with Vasl Artists’ Collective, from April 6th to May 12th, 2017 an arts residency with five artists from Afghanistan and Pakistan is taking place in Karachi. For six weeks, the participants explore the concept of Social Sculpture that evolved from the broad understanding of art of the German artist Joseph Beuys who said ‘Every Human Being can be an Artist’. Professor Shelley Sacks, Director of the Social Sculpture Research Unit at Oxford Brookes University, UK is mentoring the residency. The artists’ works were installed on public places in Karachi and involved the general public.

The resource equity dialog held in Quetta, Balochistan on 21st April 2016, highlighted the issues around resource equity and development projects. The key question raised by the academia, civil society and researchers present at the dialog.

In 2010, by means of 18th amendment to the constitution of Pakistan, provinces were made autonomous. This amendment opened up an opportunity to rethink and formulate provincial level policies across board. Civil society in this regard has been acting as a support for the provincial governments. Bargad-Organization for Youth Development initiated a process of supporting provinces (Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) in formulating youth development policies. hbs being a green foundation considered it worthwhile to support Bargad in launching of the environmental component of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa youth development policy on 29th November 2016. Following are some of the pictures from the event.