Prime Minister’s Special Assistant on Climate Change, Malik Amin Aslam, has been invited to join the Champions for Nature at the World Economic forum in recognition of his efforts for introducing and pursuing green policies in the country as a part of the global efforts that help cast positive impacts on economy and stem biodiversity loss, according to a press statement issued here on Saturday by the Ministry of Climate Change.
“This is indeed a remarkable achievement for the country for being invited to become a part of the body of the ‘Champions for Nature’ and receive the globally-recognized title at the upcoming annual meeting of the World Economic Forum,” said Prime Minister’s Special Assistant on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam, a key linchpin behind the present government’s green agenda and policies.
He said further, “It is a glaring recognition of the incumbent government’s globally-acclaimed green agenda and policies as a part of the Prime Minister Imran Khan’s vision for Clean and Green Pakistan and its contribution towards overall global ecological sustainability and biodiverse conservation and protection.”
While describing the philosophy of the World Economic Forum’s Champions for Nature title awarded to few top green leaders, Malik Amin said that champions for Nature is a community of leaders disrupting business-as-usual to lead the way to a nature-positive global economy and halt nature loss by 2030.
Part of the Nature Action Agenda (NAA), the Champions community of the World Economic Forum assembles leaders from the public and private sectors, civil society, academia, and activism - all playing complementary roles in a multi-stakeholder approach, he explained.
Champions for Nature initiative was launched during the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum at Davos in January 2020. In their first year, the Champions recognise that their community is well-positioned to support a green post-COVID-19 recovery through systems transformation for the benefit of the economy, human health and nature.
The Prime Minister’s special assistant said that the Champions for Nature are organised into three working groups, focused on transforming the socio-economic systems with the highest impact on nature.
These three systems have been identified in the Future of Nature and Business report, part of the Forum’s New Nature Economy reports series, which is making the business and economic case for action to fight nature loss because of unsustainable production and consumption patterns across the world, Malik Amin added.
He said that during his participation as a country’s representative in the gathering of the Champions for Nature-related event, He would shed light on the Prime Minister Imran Khan’s initiatives for clean and green Pakistan.
Malik Amin said that the several flagship programmes and projects have been launched by the incumbent government such as the world’s largest afforestation programme of 10 Billion Tree Tsunami Programme, Clean Green Pakistan Programme, Protected Areas Initiative, Plastic-Free Pakistan Initiative, Recharge Pakistan Initiative as a part of the country’s efforts to achieve environmental sustainability and climate resilience through conservation and protection of environment, forests and wildlife, wherein community and youth engagements are being given top priority.
He also recalled that another ambitious Protected Areas Initiative, approved by the Prime Minister, has been launched recently under the umbrella programme ‘Green Pakistan’, which is the present government’s historic milestone for nature conservation and promotion of nature-based solutions and creation of green jobs. It aims to expand the country’s protected areas cover from 13 percent to 15 percent by 2023 and create 5,000 green jobs across the country that are viewed as crucial in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic, while at the same time protecting natural resources of the country, Malik Amin added.
“We hope that the present government’s green and clean initiatives, which also are leading to creation of green jobs through green stimulus initiative for green economic recovery, would lead to rise in afforestation activities, protection and conservation of environment, wildlife and enhancing Pakistan’s resilience against adverse impacts of climate change on water, energy, agriculture, food security, energy, health, education and lives and livelihoods of the vulnerable rural and mountain communities,” he said.
Malik Amin Aslam highlighted that given the financial constraints of the countries, it would have not been possible to launched a range of clean and green Pakistan initiatives. But despite limited financial resources, Prim Minister Imran Khan supported launching of these green stimulus initiative under Clean Green Pakistan Programme, which has led to creation of thousands of green jobs for those rendered unemployed due to COVID-19 pandemic,” the British High Commissioner said during the meeting.
