ISLAMABAD: Minister for Climate Change Senator Sherry Rehman said the steering committee on climate change would guide efforts to recharge the Indus River, which was the livelihood of 80pc population.

“The Living Indus Initiative is an ambitious project that has the full support of the federal cabinet. We look forward to working together with all the relevant stakeholders to fulfill this dream of ours through this steering committee.”

The committee will guide the initiative to recharge the lifeline of Pakistan, the Indus River, which is responsible for the livelihoods of 80 per cent Pakistani population,” said the minister. She was speaking at the first meeting of the Steering Committee of the Living Indus Initiative at the Ministry of Climate Change.

Steering committee discusses steps to finance projects under initiative

Minister for Economic Affairs Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Minister for Industries and Production Syed Murtaza Mahmud, Sindh Environment, Climate Change and Coastal Development Minister Mohammad Ismail Rahoo, UN Resident Coordinator Julien Harneis, FAO representative Florence Rolle, secretaries from the Ministry of Water Resources, Ministry of National Food Security and Research, Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives and officials from the environment ministries of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan were also present.

The purpose of the steering committee was to set guidelines for all stakeholders and formulate the way forward. The committee discussed next steps on how financing could be unlocked for the projects under the initiative, building teams to monitor and support implementation and exploring communication strategies for advocacy of the Living Indus Initiative, highlighting the story of the Indus River and urgency of the initiative.

The participants also discussed the role of stakeholders in sharing feedback by proposing additional and improving existing interventions.

Ms Rehman said: “80 percent of Pakistan’s agriculture and more than three quarter of our economy resides near the Indus and Pakistan’s history, topography and culture is defined by this river.”

It has been sustaining life for 5,000 years – but will it sustain life for the next 100 years? This is now our responsibility to work together and across the federal, provincial and local levels to rejuvenate the Indus River, because we don’t have the luxury to wait.”

The Living Indus Initiative was launched in September 2022 with its secretariat at the Ministry of Climate Change. It is an umbrella initiative and a call for action to lead and consolidate initiatives to restore the ecological health of the Indus within the boundaries of Pakistan.

It had a ‘living menu’ of 25 interventions which were in line with global best practices with a focus on green infrastructure, nature-based solutions, flood-risk management and ecosystem-based adaptation approaches to protect, conserve and restore natural, freshwater, coastal and marine ecosystems. The initiative is being undertaken in partnership with the United Nations and FAO.

Published in Dawn, December 10th, 2022