KARACHI: Some serious concerns about the impact of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor on the environment were raised during the ‘Green waters and green mountains’ session of the CPEC Summit 2018 on Tuesday.
The moot was organised by the Dawn Media Group and the Ministry of Planning, Development and Reform with the participation of the Pakistan-China Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry here at Baradari, Bagh-i-Jinnah.
“Development should take place in a manner that is conducive to the environment,” said Aban Marker Kabraji, regional director of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Pakistan can learn from China’s mistakes and its eco-friendly economic model, say experts
“The planned projects of CPEC can have an impact on Pakistan’s biodiversity systems so please also listen to our plea to consider the natural environment such as the plants and trees and marine life including the turtles and the dolphins when thinking about your projects,” she added.
She also warned not to ignore the realities of climate change. “If you ignore climate change, it will be like building on sand. So the failure and success of the CPEC projects depends on the environment. We should look at China’s policy of eco-friendliness that is embedded in all of their development plans,” she added.
‘Have a green CPEC’
IUCN’s global vice president and former state minister for environment Malik Amin Aslam had a presentation on the subject of ‘Mainstreaming the environment in CPEC’.
“Pakistan is at a crossroads of development where we may either go towards a grey and hazardous environment or we may make a conscious effort to turn to the green side,” he said.
Quoting the example of China, he said that they had to learn the hard way how progress can harm the environment. They had to rethink their entire development.
“The Chinese realise that prevention is better than cure so they took a U-turn to move towards sustainable development. They also talk about exporting their eco-friendly economic model and Pakistan can be one of the recipients,” he said. “We have already experienced smog in Lahore and Karachi where the former had to be shut down for two days at least. So don’t just have a CPEC. Have a ‘green’ CPEC.”
Ma Keping of the Institute of Botany at the Chinese Academy of Sciences spoke about China developing an ecological civilisation and building a beautiful country where the people can breathe fresh air and drink clean water in a healthy environment, which, he said, was high priority for China.
Prof Tariq Banuri, executive director, Global Change Impact Studies Centre, focused his talk on the idea of green growth. “CPEC also gives us the chance to learn from China. They help others see where they went wrong to prevent them from making the same mistakes,” he said.
“China, when it came under the pressure of climate change, invested in their own companies to make them profitable by exporting environmental solutions,” he explained.
Former senator and federal information minister Javed Jabbar said that the time was now to send the green message across. “CPEC presents a major challenge for the state, civil society, the private sector, the media, etc, where there is a need for fundamental reforms to make up for lost time,” he said.
Retired Vice Admiral Arifullah Hussaini said that it was his belief that those who respected the environment actually respected themselves.
Entrepreneurship skills session
The entrepreneurship skills session of the CPEC Summit looked into how the country can take advantage of China’s economy using entrepreneurship skills.
“Pakistan is lucky to be the neighbour of the world’s second-largest economy,” said Pakistan Stock Exchange chairman Muneer Kamal.
Wang Hua, the chief executive of China Mobile Pakistan, said that after 3G and 4G, they were now committed towards fulfilling the needs of their 100 million subscribers by working on 5G and providing them with leading IT solutions.
Sima Kamil, president and CEO of United Bank Limited, said that when they talk of CPEC, it was time to think what Pakistani banks could do for the mega project.
Nishat Chunian Power chairman Shahzad Saleem, AKD Group CEO Hina Dhedhi, Port Grand CEO Shahid Feroz, Sapphire Textile Mills CEO Nadeem Abdullah; Sinotrans Logistics Pakistan chairman Badar Badat and Chen Yuncheng, country head and CEO of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Pakistan, also spoke.
Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2018
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