RAWALPINDI, Jan 31: The executive secretary of United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific, Kim Hak Su, has expressed concern over low forest cover in Pakistan.
Speaking at a press conference here on Monday, he said against the international standard of 25 per cent forest cover, the percentage in Pakistan currently stood at only five per cent.
Talking about the recently-inaugurated biodiversity park in Rawalpindi, Mr Kim said the project was not only related to environment but also would help reduce poverty, improve health and sanitation conditions and resolve other social issues.
He emphasized adopting the concept of 'Pro-Poor Public Private Partnership', known as 5Ps. He said the private sector was always reluctant to invest in the areas where there was no immediate gains. He stressed the need for bringing attitudinal change among the stakeholders.
The UN official said the project would be a success if there was active support from the private sector, local government and individuals. He said decreasing greenery and extinction of certain animal species was a global issue, however, the situation was much more serious in Pakistan.
The official said the biodiversity project being run through public-private partnership would help prevent climatic changes. The plan will also be replicated in other countries, he added.
About poverty eradication, Mr Kim said it was a challenging job. He said the world body could not reduce poverty in the country, however, it could only advise and show the way as how to do it.
He said both the UNDP and Pakistan had been working together to reduce poverty and resolve other social issues. Pakistan, he said, had achieved some economic stability but its benefits had not trickled down to the masses.
The UN official underlined the need for equal distribution of income to narrow down the growing gap between the rich and the poor. He said efforts were being made to alleviate poverty by half till the year 2015.
About prospects of regional trade, he said rail and road links were being established among the Asian countries in order to boost trade and commerce activities in the region.
In reply to a question about 'preference' being given by the United Nations to some countries, Mr Kim said the UN was an impartial body and its operations were not based on discrimination.
The UN system was not perfect, he said, adding that the body was established 60 years back in 1945. He said several proposals and recommendations were under- consideration to make positive changes in the UN set-up.
Earlier, talking to Dawn Mr Kim said the Unescap feared that many Asian countries might not be able to achieve the Millenium Development Goals (MDG). He said several countries in the Asia-Pacific region were MDG negative and wondered if Pakistan would be able to achieve the MDG targets and avoid being an MDG negative country.
"The challenge for Pakistan lies in maintaining the competitiveness of its industry mainly textile." Pakistan has got a good base, he said and added that he had been told that there had been 60 per cent increase in the import of textile machinery and equipment, which showed that the textile industry was positioned to take off. He said most of the progress in the region was mainly due to the flourishing economies of India and China.
TSUNAMI EARLY WARNING SYSTEM: The Unescap, he said, had proposed setting up of a multi-hazard warning system instead of a system purely for tsunami and might occur once in a century.
There are lot of finances involved in setting up of an early warning system and Unescap, he said, believed the money should be used in much more effective way. Recent surveys, including those conducted by the Unescap, showed that the most common natural disasters in the Asian and Pacific region included floods, cyclones, earthquakes, droughts, storm surges, tsunamis and haze.
Economic loss of these disasters during the period from 1990 to 2003 exceeded US$380 billion, which was caused mostly by cyclones/floods and earthquakes accounting for 57 and 37 per cent respectively.
ASIAN HIGHWAY: The Asian highway project, The Unescap chief said, would become legally effective only once at least eight countries ratified it. The deadline for this is January 2006 and there is every hope that it will be achieved, he added.
So far only three countries have ratified the project though 32 countries are signatories to it. The highway that would criss-cross through most part of Asia is proposed to start from Tokyo and end up in Istanbul and would be some 140,000 kms long.
The land-locked countries would be the main beneficiaries of the project that was originally conceived in 1959. Dr Kim said 17 per cent of this proposed highway was poorly connected, whereas for the rest some sort of infrastructure does exist.
For the South Asian subcontinent and Central Asian Republic, he said, the main issue was how to finance the project and one possible option was getting it done through public-private partnership.
