ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday said Pakistan, despite its limited resources, had done more than any other country in the world to combat rising gas emissions but the richest countries had not done enough to combat global warming.
Addressing the virtual launch gala of UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, the prime minister urged the world community to come together and join hands to protect the ecosystem, increase tree cover and save environment for coming generations.
Pakistan, this year’s host of the United Nations’ annual World Environment Day being observed on Saturday (today), is among the countries worst affected by climate change, having been regularly hit by devastating floods in recent years which displaced hundreds of thousands of people and destroyed swathes of agricultural land.
“It is time for the world to come together and save the environment for our future generations,” the prime minister said and asked the world community to protect ecosystem and environment and stop rapid depletion of tree cover and degradation of environment.
Earlier, in an interview with Reuters, PM Khan said developing countries like Pakistan had done “more than enough” to combat global warming and climate change despite having limited budgets and an array of problems to deal with such as in education and health. “To take so much money out as we did — proportionate to our GDP and available income — I think Pakistan has done more than any country in the world,” he added.
“Has the developed world done enough? The answer is no. Emissions are from the rich countries. And I think they know they haven’t done enough,” Mr Khan said.
This year’s World Environment Day will serve as the launch of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, calling for urgent action to revive damaged ecosystems.
Under the leadership of PM Khan, Pakistan has undertaken a number of restoration projects, including a 10 billion tree planting drive. This week Mr Khan planted the billionth tree in that drive.
Published in Dawn, June 5th, 2021