KARACHI, June 30: The Federal Minister of State for Environment, Malik Amin Aslam, on Thursday said the National Environment Policy (NEP), approved by the federal cabinet, would soon be implemented in phases. Speaking at the inaugural session of an ‘Environment Management System Conference’, organized by the National Forum for Environment and Health (NFEH) and later talking to PPI, the minister said the policy would provide a framework to tackle environmental issues.

In the first step, challenges would be identified while a strategy to combat these issues would be evolved in the second stage. In the third phase, the policy would be implemented without any relaxation for anyone violating environmental laws, he clarified.

Mr Aslam said a 15-member ministerial committee had been formed, which would submit its report to the federal secretary environment in four to five months.

The said report would then be presented to the Pakistan Environmental Protection Council, headed by the prime minister for consideration in its next meeting, he said.

“According to the policy, the environment impact assessment (EIA) will be strictly followed even in government projects. We will work in collaboration with the private sector using market forces, and the government will improve its capacity,” he said.

To a query about prompt actions by the environmental ministry in oil spillage incidents, like the Tasman Spirit case, Mr Aslam said the government had revived the Marine Pollution Board (MPB).

To another query, he said a smart programme of the federal health ministry, which was launched four years ago as a pilot project, would now be launched all over the country in the next two weeks. “During these four years, about 100 industries had voluntarily participated in the programme.”

This programme will enable industries to conduct self-monitoring, he said, adding that their standards would be checked in nominated laboratories in the country.

On the basis of those reports, companies adopting the best practices to safeguard environment would also be awarded ‘green certificates’ by the federal environment ministry, he announced.

He said, “The government is showing its commitment to the nation, and this year it had increased the budget for environmental protection by 700 per cent, taking allocations for the purpose from Rs400 million to Rs3 billion.

Earlier, Chairman of the NFEH Dr Shaikh Kaiser Waheed, in his welcome address, said the ozone layer was fast depleting in Mexico, posing a grave threat to all human beings, while the biggest polluters of the world had not signed the environment treaty yet.

Sindh Environment Secretary Shamsul Haq Memon and others also spoke. —PPI