A few federal ministries have been dissolved already and next on the list is the Ministry of Environment — experts say devolution has to be completed by June 30th this year. However, there is a lot of confusion and anxiety about what will happen when the ministry is gone. There are fears that at the provincial level, there is just not enough capacity or competency to deal with the complex environmental problems facing Pakistan today — changing monsoon patterns, melting glaciers, rising sea levels, desertification, air pollution, loss of biodiversity and water issues to name a few.

“With the devolution of the ministry, government institutions like ENERCON (which deals with alternative energy development) and the environmental tribunals and labs and the environment protection agencies will all go” explains Shafqat Kakakhel, a former United Nations Environment Programme official and a member of the advisory core group on climate change. “In fact, the Pakistan Environment Protection Act (PEPA) of 1997 was one of the most comprehensive laws that Pakistan ever established”. The environmental tribunals were a product of PEPA. “How will they fill up the vacuum? I don’t know. Several trains will be coming to a halt”. He adds that at least a year of discussion and analysis is needed before this devolution ought to take place but it appears that the ministry has run out of time.

“The ministry will be dissolved either in March or in June, we are not sure about the exact dates” says Saleemullah of the UNDP’s One Joint Programme with the Ministry of Environment. “And no one knows the exact modalities either”. More importantly, what will happen to the various international environmental agreements (like the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Conventions on Biological Diversity and Wetlands) to which Pakistan is a signatory? “There are three options — that a unit will be formed to look after them either in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, or the Planning Division or the Economic Affairs Division” explains Saleemullah. He would prefer it to come under the Planning Division since they are in charge of development and can therefore ensure that future development is at least sustainable (which means it takes the environment into consideration).

“I would prefer it to come under the Economic Affairs Division because that deals with aid coming into Pakistan” explains Ali Sheikh of LEAD-Pakistan, a leading environment NGO based in Islamabad. Under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Pakistan is now eligible for climate change funding, including grants to protect forests and transfer of clean technology and he would prefer the Economic Affairs Division to handle this process of securing the funding.

Although there are lots of concerns about what will happen in the future, one thing is clear — no one is in favour of the continuation of the status quo. The Ministry of Environment was not a very effective ministry — there was a constant reshuffling of bureaucrats and it was overstaffed and inefficient. The former Minister of Environment,

Hameedullah Jan Afridi resigned a few days back and has not been retained in the cabinet right-sizing. To add to the confusion (given that the ministry is up for devolution), another new federal Minister for the Environment has been assigned — Samina Khalid Ghurki from the PPP. She took oath this week — her last posting was federal Minister for Social Welfare and Special Education. Her forte is clearly women’s affairs and she has no training in environmental issues.

“This is actually a good opportunity to examine the environmental health of the country and the various roles of institutions, especially those relating to the provinces,” says Shafqat Kakakhel. “What is needed is smart re-fitting of institutions and for us to turn disaster into an advantage — otherwise there will be a lot of chaos”. The Government of Pakistan really has to wake up and realise the crucial importance of environmental issues and to stop treating them and the ministry as irrelevant. Do we need another round of climate related disasters before this government gets its priorities right?