The Federal Minister
Climate Change, Senator Mushahidullah Khan presided over the closing ceremony
of a two-day event titled COP in my City was organized by Ministry of Climate
Change in collaboration with Fredrick Naumann Stiftung and COMSATS University
Islamabad.
The Federal Minister said,
“Students and youth have an important role in combating climate change
effects.”
“Considering the importance
of youth in environmental issues, I have decided to include two students in our
official delegation to represent Pakistan at COP-23 which is scheduled to be
held in Germany next month,” added the Federal Minister for Climate Change. We
are also taking initiatives to include climate change in educational curricula
as environmental education can prepare our young generation in dealing with
climate change disasters.”
The two days role play
simulation exercise “COP in My City” is a global competition among students,
designed on the pattern of actual COP negotiations. The purpose of this
exercise is to sensitize the students on climate change issues and apprize them
climate change negotiations process. The simulation has already taken place
across 200 locations in 70 countries.
The top two winners were
hibba Essa AND Abdullah Quresh and third
and fourth were Fatimah Mehmood and Ali
Shambeel Jafri.This event aimed at selecting two best students for official COP
delegation. The Ministry of Climate Change received interest from more than 100
applicants from all over the Pakistan of whom 54 applicants from 22
universities were selected. The
institutions represented included University of Punjab, University of Peshawar,
IBA Karachi, Habib University, COMSATS, Islamic University Islamabad, Bahria
University Islamabad, NUST Islamabad, University of Agriculture Faisalabad,
Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan, Quaid-e-Azam University, Lahore School of
Economics, GIKI, Fatimah Jinnah Women University, Government Postgraduate
College, Rawalpindi, Institute of Space Technology, Arid Agriculture
University, University of Engineering.
The applicants were short
listed on the basis of regional and gender balance and educational level. The
competitors were divided into 10 groups of whom seven represented nations and
national groups while three represented the media, fossil fuel lobby and
climate activists. This competition
comprised two rounds, namely, “World Climate Simulation” and “World Energy
Simulation”. The judges included Dr. Qamar Zaman, author of Pakistan Climate
Change Policy, Dr. Toqeer Ahmed Centre for Climate Change and Research COMSATS
IIT, Dr. Mahmood Khwaja of SDPI, Ms. Kahsmala Kakakhel, climate expert, and Mr.
Farrukh Zaman of CSCCC (Civil Society Coalition for Climate Change). All participants and best delegation were
awarded certificates.
