Environmental degradation costs Rs 365 billion annually: National Assembly body briefed

The cost of environmental degradation in the country is six percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) amounting to Rs 365 billion per annum. This was revealed by Secretary Ministry of Climate Change Arif Ahmed Khan on Tuesday while briefing National Assembly Standing Committee on Climate Change. He said that the country could face severe complications in the next five years if proper mitigation and adaptation measures are not taken.
"We can face food shortage, water scarcity and severe energy crisis in the next five years if timely measures are not initiated to tackle climate change," he said. The Secretary said that climate change has badly affected the country in the last decade and would have adverse impact on the country's economy in future too. "Pakistan is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change and this warrants timely measures to deal with the challenge," he told the committee members.
Pakistan requires US $10-15 billion annually to deal with adverse impact of climate change and ensure proper mitigation and adaptation measures, the committee members were informed. The Secretary informed the committee members that the government has been spending seven percent of GDP on climate related expenditures. "In the past, our economy has been badly hit by consecutive floods and this is expected to happen in future too," he warned.
Pakistan suffered over US $25 billion loss in economic damage to public infrastructure, agriculture, irrigation network, health and educational facilities from five consecutive floods since 2010. The government has allocated Rs 39.752 million in the budget for fiscal year 2015-16 for the Ministry of Climate Change. Members of the committee, however, suggested the government increase funds for the ministry and devise a plan for capacity building of the officials too.
The climate change, however, still remains on low priority of the government, as the allocation is far less than the PSDP of 2012-13 and 2013-14. The PPP-led coalition government allocated Rs 168.1 million for the ministry in the PSDP of 2012-13 while it was sharply reduced to Rs 58.8 million in 2013-14 by the PML-N government.
The PML-N had even abolished the ministry, but has now revived it, as a Ministry of Climate Change following pressure from the international organisations. Under the 18th constitutional amendment, the ministry of environment has been devolved to the provinces; therefore the committee members also urged the climate change ministry to co-ordinate with the provinces to deal with all challenges.
The committee members urged the ministry officials to initiate cogent steps for proper monitoring of forests in all the provinces, especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan. "We should focus on increasing our area of forests in all the provinces as this could be the easiest and quickest way to deal with the threats posed by climate change," said chairman of the committee. The committee members assured their full support in addressing the rapid climate change and environmental degradation.