KARACHI: A brainstorming session led by government experts on environment and climate change was held on Tuesday at a local hotel to revise the national sustainable development strategy (NSDS) and develop a national action plan on sustainable consumption and production (SCP).

The one-day consultative workshop was organised by the ministry of climate change in collaboration with the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa), coastal development department and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

The revised NSDS aims to integrate relevant federal and provincial sector policies/ strategies with the sustainable development goals (SDGs) and bridge the gaps created due to shift from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to SDGs.

Highlighting the meeting’s objectives, secretary environment, climate change and coastal development department Zameer Ahmed Khan said the main objective of developing a national action plan on SCP was to achieve resource efficiency, prevent environmental degradation, generate employment opportunities while contributing to poverty eradication and shared prosperity.

He appreciated the climate change ministry for starting the project on SCP titled Strengthening Pakistan’s National Policy Frameworks to Facilitate Resource Efficiency and Sustainable Consumption in collaboration with the UNEP, the European Union and Switch Asia Policy Programme.

“It is important to mainstream and integrate the national action plan on SCP and its objectives in the existing economic and development policies and engage all stakeholders in this process,” he said.

Director general of Sepa Naeem Ahmed Mughal said that a holistic approach was needed to minimise adverse environmental impacts resulting from production and consumption in society.

“The current pattern of development across the country is not sustainable. The key element to achieve sustainable development is to adopt SCP with increased resource-use-efficiency in the value chain in the sectors like energy and water, producing less waste and pollution to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable,” he said.

Innovative policies and targeted activities, he said, had better chance of bringing about sustainability in consumption and production patterns. “Hence, it is vital to have a national action bring about a positive societal change in a systematic and pragmatic manner.”

Pakistan, he said, had been selected as one of the pilot countries by UNEP to develop a national action plan on sustainable consumption and production. This would contribute to poverty alleviation, environmental sustainability and development of green economy.

National coordinator of the UNEP in Pakistan Jawaid Ali Khan briefed about the programme the UNEP had initiated in collaboration with the ministry of climate change and EU-Switch Asia on SCP.

“The programme aims to integrate SCP in the national and provincial policies and strategies as well as to accelerate the shift towards SCP in Pakistan. The revised NSDS would help make the SDGS part of official framework at the national and provincial level,” he said.

Sharing his experiences and knowledge as former secretary forest, Shams ul Haq Memon emphasised the need for effective implementation of the SDGs and said the consultative meeting would help develop a better understanding of SCP and draw a viable plan to make it a reality.

Officials representing the forest, wildlife, information technology, agriculture, fisheries, coastal development and education department as well as private and independent consultants participated in large numbers in the workshop.

They were divided into groups to suggest SCP practices for across-the-board sustainable development in the areas of energy and industry, cities, transport, housing and water, education, health and gender equity, agriculture, food security and hunger, climate change and land ecosystem, economic growth, justice and poverty.

The working groups’ recommendations would be submitted to the National Multi Stakeholder Technical Committee constituted at the federal level to develop a national action plan on SCP and revise NSDS in consultation with all stakeholders.

Once recommendations are outlined by the committee, a draft national plan would be prepared on SCP and NSDS and shared with stakeholders at the federal and the provincial levels for their feedback.

Later, comments on the draft document would be taken up by the federal committee and finalised accordingly.

Published in Dawn, November 23rd, 2016

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