ISLAMABAD: Coinciding with the Pakistan Day celebrations on Thursday, Special Adviser to Prime Minister on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam announced that a process has been initiated for rolling out a national adaptation plan for boosting climate resilience.

The announcement also comes only six weeks before the country will host the ‘World Environment Day’. Mr Aslam was speaking to an online project inception workshop regarding the launching of the National Adaptation Plan process here.

Hosted by Pakistan, the theme of this year’s ‘World Environment Day’ on June 5, is ‘Ecosystem restoration’.

The adaptation plan process would be looking to build on the existing nature-based approaches, which include the Ten Billion Trees Tsunami Programme, the Ecosystem Restoration Fund and the Recharge Pakistan initiative, Mr Aslam added.He said given the backdrop, Pakistan also viewed the adaptation plans as one of the most important mechanisms for adapting to climate change impacts and resilience against disasters.

“The country’s national adaptation plan would be formed in consultation with relevant national and international stakeholders. It would help reduce the country’s vulnerabilities to climate impacts by creating comprehensive medium and long-term plans, including the integration of adaptation measures into national policy,” said the PM’s aide.He said Pakistan was already bearing the brunt of climate risks while it contributed less than one per cent of the total global greenhouse gas emissions. Yet, every year the country kept on climbing the ladder of climate vulnerability.

According to the long-term German Watch index, Pakistan has remained constantly among top 10 climate vulnerable countries each year since 2010.

“It is imperative for the developing world, which are more vulnerable to climate change, to plan their development with climate change in mind. This is what the National Adaptation Plan process seeks to achieve in Pakistan,” he stressed.

Launched formally on March 25 at a virtual event, the two-year $2.7 million project would be funded and technically supported jointly by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Green Climate Fund, said Dr Mazhar Hussain, climate change ministry deputy secretary and National Adaptation Plan coordinator.Mr Hussain said Pakistan would be tapping into the National Adaptation Plan process at a full pace. Its outcomes boost the adaptation elements of the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), a central aspect of the 2015 Paris Agreement, and national roadmap to cut climate altering carbon emissions.

Meanwhile, the prime minister’s aide said Pakistan had well-thought plans to submit its revised nationally determined contributions before the UN climate change conference to be held this year in Glasgow.

“The National Adaptation Plan process is accordingly being aligned with the NDCs to ensure coherent implementation,” he added.Pakistan is highly vulnerable to climate change impacts, stemming from its dependency on climate-sensitive sectors, such as agriculture, water and natural resources.

Since international climate negotiations began in 1990, global greenhouse gas emissions that have paced up global warming have spiked by 62pc over the last 30 years,” Jessica Troni, the head of the Climate Change Adaptation Unit at the UN Environment Programme, recalled.

Published in Dawn, March 26th, 2021