ISLAMABAD: The Senate Forum for Policy Research (SFPR), the country’s first parliamentary think tank, has constituted a committee to make recommendations to the upper house of parliament about the steps aimed at checking deforestation in the country.
The committee comprises Senator Mohsin Leghari from Punjab and former senators Javed Jabbar from Sindh, Afrasiab Khattak from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sardar Yaqub Khan Nasir from Balochistan.
Chairman of the forum Nayyar Hussain Bokhari will head the committee which was constituted by the forum in its meeting held on Tuesday for a discussion on the issue of climate change.
Talking to Dawn, Afrasiab Khattak of the Awami National Party (ANP) said deforestation was an important issue as the country had been facing an “environment crisis”. He said weather patterns were fast changing because of melting of glaciers on Karakoram and Himalayas.
Mr Khattak said the committee members would seek help from the provinces on the matter since forestation was a provincial subject.
The purpose of the committee, he said, was to suggest measures to save forests in order to save ecological balance in the country.
Meanwhile, the members of the SFPR took strong exception to being ignored in the budget-making process.
Published in Dawn, June 25th, 2015
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