Three-member delegation, led by the World Bank’s Country Director to Pakistan Najy Benhassine called Wednesday called on the Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam here at his office.
According to a press statement issued here by the Ministry of Climate Change, both sides agreed to work closely in various areas including environmental development, climate change adaptation and mitigation, air pollution reduction, disaster risk mitigation.
The World Bank’s country director said that his organization is fully aware that Pakistan is confronting both the immediate and longer-term health and economic impacts of the COVID-19 crisis, which have affected country’s social and economic growth.
However, he assumed the Prime Minister’s Special Assistant Malik Amin Aslam that his organization would back the PTI-led incumbent government’s efforts taken for post-COVID-19 recent recovery initiatives, which aim at restoring people’s lives and livelihood affected by COVID-19 pandemic.
Both sides discussed at length various matters of bilateral cooperation and opportunities for collaboration in the fields of green economic recovery by enhancing investment in nature-based solutions and green job creations, environmental sustainability, climate change, fore¬¬st management, air pollution and water conservation and protection and disaster risk reduction.
Malik Amin Aslam thanked the World Bank’s country director for conveying his Bank’s commitment for supporting the present government’s post-COVID 19 recovery through Green Stimulus Programme initiated under the Ten Billion Tree Tsunami Pr
ogramme (TBTTP).
Malik Amin Aslam informed the Country Director to Pakistan Najy Benhassine that the Prime Minister Imran Khan had also approved the ‘Green Stimulus’ package in April this year as part of the government’s efforts to extend green cover in the county and to create job opportunities for the youth, under which so far over 86,000 green jobs have been created for daily wagers rendered unemployed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He also informed Najy Benhassine of the World Bank that an ambitious Protected Areas Initiative, recently approved by the Prime Minister Imran Khan, 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, The prime minister’s special assistant on climate change added.
While sharing more details of the green and clean Pakistan initiatives launched under the Prime Minister’s Imran Khan’s vision for Clean and Green Pakistan, Malik Amin Aslam told the World Bank delegation members that the climate change ministry has launched several flagship programmes and projects including 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.
The World Bank’s Country Director to Pakistan Najy Benhassine lauded the prime minister Imran Khan government’s green and clean initiatives for generation of green jobs through green stimulus initiative for green economic recovery and green jobs creation, afforestation programme, 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.
Meanwhile, both sides vowed to work hand in hand towards tackling negative fallouts of the present global health crisis of the Covid-19 pandemic and global warming on various socio-economic sectors of the country for achieving equitable and inclusive social and economic growth and mitigating poverty and diseases.
“Its really amazing and inspiring that despite limited financial resources, Pakistan launched 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 World Bank country director said during the meeting.
He told the special assistant Malik Amin Aslam that the World Bank, however, would utilise all-out financial, technological and knowledge resources to support Pakistan through its experiences in overall post COVID-19 green recovery by dint of enhanced investment in green sectors including forestry environmental protection and climate change resilience through mitigation and adaptation initiatives in the country’s climate-vulnerable socio-economic sectors.
Malik Amin Aslam also told the World Bank country director that he deeply values the World Bank’s interest and its offer to extend support to the incumbent government’s green and clean initiatives launched under the 10 Billion Tree Tsunami Programme for overall environmental conservation and protection and Pakistan’s climate resilience building.
“Its indeed our pleasure to hear that the World Bank is so passionate, looking at opportunities for jointly working and sharing its experiences regarding promotion of clean and renewable energy, environmental conservation, air pollution mitigation, climate change mitigation and adaptation, efficient water management and disaster risk reduction,” Malik Amin said.
He remarked that the world today has been forced to accept that it is the destruction of wildlife habitats as well as the degradation of the world’s ecosystems that are the root cause of the pandemic — COVID-19.
“However, this ongoing catastrophe is painfully reminding us that collectively we no longer have a choice but to respect the natural limits and boundaries of our coexistence with other species. Nature, while reclaiming lost space, seems to be rebalancing our relationship with it,” Malik Amin emphasised during the meeting.
