November 6, 2003	Thursday	Ramazan 10, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, Nov 5: Lawmakers, politicians and environmentalists at a conference were unanimous in their opinion that the environmental issues are above political differences because they affect lives regardless of political and ethnic affiliations.

The conference was organized by the Consumer Rights Commission of Pakistan (CRCP) in collaboration with the UNDP Small Grants Programme of Global Environment Facility (SGP-GEF) and the World Conservation Union (IUCN).

The parliamentarians and political leaders from 17 political parties, prominent environmental experts and representatives of the non-government organizations (NGOs) participated in the conference.

Onder Yucer, the Resident Representative, said the UNDP believed in creating synergies among partners for community-led solutions to local problems and promotion of participatory approaches to development.

He said the communities, the NGOs and the government, each have a specific role to play for improving the conditions of life.

Fayyaz Baqir, the national coordinator of GEF the Small Grants Programme (SGP) said that effective interventions could yield solutions to large problems.

“The local communities could play very important role in addressing local problems with assistance from civil society and government,” Mr Baqir said.

Dr Akmal Hussain, managing director of Sayyed Engineering, said the state resources were used to serve a narrow economic elite. “The elite holds power by fragmenting the society, isolating the individual and reducing the space for collective action,” he said.

Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed said the issues like education, health, environment and others were beyond politics and there should be national consensus on them.

“The issue of quantity and quality of water should be given high priority. The link between poverty and environment needs to be focussed,” he said.

Shah Mahmood Qureshi, the deputy parliamentary leader of PPP in the National Assembly, emphasised the need to create an interface with parliamentarians and initiate a debate on issues of national importance.

“In Pakistan, policies were formulated without consulting the policymakers. the document on poverty reduction strategy (PRSP) was prepared without consulting the legislature and is unrepresentative in character,” Mr Qureshi said.

Dr Rozina, member of the National Standing Committee on Environment said the economic development was not possible without political stability and policy continuity.

“As many as 80 per cent diseases could be prevented by preventing water pollution alone,” she said. Saadia Abbasi, the PML-N Senator said Pakistan’s National Conservation Strategy was adopted in 1992 but still that remains to make an impact to protect environment.

“The government has failed to protect environment and the recent oil spill in Karachi is just one example,” Ms Abbasi said.

Bushra Rehman, ruling MNA, Dr Ghulam Hussain of the PPP-SB, Qari Gul Rehman, MNA from MMA, Manzoor Ahmed Gilani of Istaqlal Party, Khawaja Sheeraz of PML-Q, and Gyan Chand Singh of PML-Q also participated in the discussion.

Earlier Mukhtar Ahmed, the executive coordinator and Salman Humayun of the CRCP, briefed the participants about the background and objectives of the conference.