Govt determined to control impacts of climate change: Zartaj
KARACHI, Jan 11 (NNI): Minister of State for Climate Change Zartaj Gul Wazir has said that the government is working on achieving millennium development goals and hoped that targets of sustainable development goals (SDGs) will be achieved before 2030.
Addressing a ceremony in Karachi on Tuesday, she said that the government is determined to control the impacts of climate change and Prime Minister Imran Khan is one of five world leaders working on climate change.
The event was attended by Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Maritime Affairs Mahmood Baqi Moulvi and other officials of Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA).
“The pollution is one of the main issues,” she said and added that visionary leader like Prime Minister Imran Khan has planned projects like the Clean and Green Pakistan to address the issue of environmental degradation in the country.
She informed that the government has launched the 10 Billion Trees Tsunami project on patron of the Billion Trees Project of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa which would play a crucial role in tackling climate change issues in the country.
“We are not contributing to environmental degradation as other countries are doing like India because they have huge industries. Despite this, we have taken a number of initiatives to control this issue. The expansion of mangroves has increased by 300 percent during the PTI regime,” she said.
Lamenting at the Sindh government over poor governance in the province, she told that the provincial government was not doing anything to tackle issue of the environment and even wastewater was being drained into the sea without its proper treatment.
“It is a provincial subject and it is responsibility of provincial government to treat waste water before dumping it,” she elaborated.
Zartaj informed that the federal government has launched some projects such as Green Bus Service in the province to facilitate the people.
Appreciating the role of the Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA), she also informed that the agency was playing a due role in addressing the issue of the marine population.
Speaking on the occasion, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Maritime Affairs, Mahmood Baqi Moulvi said that the federal government would take all measures to resolve the issue of population.
Besides this, we have started some projects like K4 and others in Sindh province to provide relief to the people of Sindh, she added.
Director General Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA) Rear Admiral Mirza Foad Amin Baigh HI(H) said that Pakistan Maritime Security Agency, Pakistan Navy National Port Authorities, Oil Marketing companies, and other stakeholders continue to join hands in a collective effort to combat marine pollution Pakistan.
“Vulnerability of sea to marine pollution due to the risk of Oil Spill demands regular rehearsals of our response options. These response options are mainly directed to ensure effective measures for bringing improvements in the existing response strategy,” he added.
Likewise, as part of our international obligation, he said that our maritime Search and Rescue services also respond to situations where human life or property is at risk. In a similar context, the conduct of Search and Rescue (SAR) exercises at sea enables validation of responses and strengthen coordination among participating organs.
In the same stride, he said that PMSA aimed to conduct an annual marine oil spill response exercise of BARACUDA series XI starting from 11 till 13 January 2022.
Apart from meeting national objectives on environmental control and anti-pollution drives, this exercise will also provide a common platform to deliberate upon and run through the response mechanism for a range of marine pollution incidents including Search and Rescue exercises, he said. TF REPORT
