ISLAMABAD: Increasing access to renewable energy, particularly in forest areas, is one of the main aims of the National Forest Policy approved by the Council of Common Interest, said Federal Minister for Climate Change Zahid Hamid on Sunday.

“We will also focus on addressing the root causes of the deforestation in the country, to save existing trees and planting new ones across the country,” he said at a press conference.

These remarks also came in response to the criticism of the ministry by the National Assembly Standing Committee on Climate Change, the members of which had in its last meeting said the ministry makes plans and polices but does not implement them.

It had also been observed during that meeting that of the 87 million hectares of forest cover in the country, 27,000 hectares is cleared every year. Parliamentarians had said the ministry’s efforts for increasing forest cover will fail as long as the issues of poverty, unemployment and the lack of access to alternative sources of energy, particularly for cooking and heating, were not addressed.

In the past, the ministry has also been criticised for not protecting the country’s environmental and natural resources from destruction from natural causes and human activity, especially now that there are adequate policies for coping with environmental degradation, deforestation, bio-diversity conservation and air and water pollution. Though it has launched numerous tree plantation drives, the ministry has also been criticised for not being able to stop deforestation.

In his briefing on Sunday, Mr Hamid said the development projects of the ministry and its attached departments are aimed at improving the country’s climate resilience, environmental conservation and protection, survey of wildlife and checking desertification through sustainable land management.

Other officials from the ministry also spoke at the press conference and said that a project for sustainable land management worth Rs105.5 million had been implemented in 14 arid districts in the four provinces. The project will result in the application of land management techniques over 800,000 hectares in these areas, covering more than 200 villages, a senior forest official said.

The meeting was told about a project worth Rs76.73 million designed for strengthening the Zoological Survey of Pakistan and which is to be implemented during the next financial year, beginning July 1.

They explained that the initiative was aimed at conducting nationwide surveys of wildlife species and that the data collected will help in effective planning and action for the conservation and protection of wildlife resources.

The government has approved a budget for Rs3.7 billion for forestry and another Rs1.3 billion have been set aside for ensuring the sustainability of wildlife for the next five years, Mr Hamid said.

Published in Dawn, February 20th, 2017