ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that his government is committed to the global efforts for biodiversity conservation and protection and has, therefore, undertaken many initiatives to protect green areas in the country.

According to a press statement issued here on Monday by the Ministry of Climate Change, the prime minister said: “In fact today the global biodiversity is faced with myriad challenges caused due to unsustainable human activities, including habitat destruction, habitat fragmentation, habitat degradation, overexploitation of species for human use, introduction of exotic species and increased spread of diseases. However, halting biodiversity loss is possible only through a global biodiversity action.”

The prime minister released this message in the context of the United Nations’ Summit on Biodiversity beginning from Sept 30 in New York.

The summit is being convened by the president of the UN General Assembly, at the level of heads of state and government under the theme “Urgent action on biodiversity for sustainable development”.

More than 45 heads of state and government from across the world will take part in the event.

Leaders of five of the world’s largest economies will endorse the Leaders’ Pledge for Nature at the summit, committing to decisive action on nature to protect human and planetary health.

“While Pakistan is no exception to the fallouts of the biodiversity loss at global and local levels, we have taken various initiatives to address this issue as a part of global efforts,” the prime minister said.

He said: “My government has taken up the challenge of planting 10 billion trees across the country with the support of local communities [and] aims to significantly reverse biodiversity loss by mainstreaming the conservation and sustainable use of biological resources across all sectors of the national economy, the society and the policy-making frameworks.”

An ambitious green stimulus initiative had also been introduced, which led to creation of thousands of green job opportunities and was leading the people to protect forests and grow nurseries for livelihoods, he said.

Prime Minister Khan pledged strong support to the Leaders’ Pledge for Nature, saying his government was committed to halting biodiversity loss.

He said that his government was already taking steps in the right direction — one of which included the launching of protected areas initiative under which 15 national parks would be protected over the next two years.

Published in Dawn, September 29th, 2020