Dr Rashid Amjad, vice chancellor Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (Pide) and president Pakistan Society of Development Economists (PSDE) has advised the new government to set up a high level commission on climate change to be headed by the Prime Minister.
Addressing the 23rd annual general meeting and conference of the PSDE here on Wednesday, he said that the commission should comprise ministers of key economic ministries, the Planning Commission and experts in the field as members. He said Pide would be willing to serve as the secretariat to the commission.
Engr Dr Akram Sheikh, Chancellor, Pide and deputy chairman Planning Commission (PC) inaugurated the conference whose theme was "Environment and Natural Resource Management: Issues and Challenges". The conference was co-hosted by DFID, Engro, Sandee, FES, and NBP.
Dr Amjad suggested that there is a need to find ways in which the Pakistan economy can adjust the pressure of rising commodity and oil prices by putting in place an incentive structure, which ensure efficient use of resources as well as provide safety net for those adversely affected.
The challenge is to put in place economic and development policies that lead to the creation of productive, remunerative and decent jobs, VC Pide said. He emphasised the need to ensure that the current level of investment in knowledge, education and technology resulted in increased productivity, competitiveness and sustainable high growth.
He also highlighted the need to face up the pressures of increasing global competition by restructuring the productive sector of the economy, and to find new leasing sectors to replace those are losing competitiveness. Pide is planning to strengthen its research programme on the environment and climate change. Masters programme in environmental economics will start from autumn 2008 for which we have started making preparation.
Dr Akram Sheikh said that planet cannot sustain its present and future population numbers, if the current global trends of consumption continue in the attitude of business as usual. We have witnessed the effect of this most acutely in the last couple of years, with major increases in prices of most food commodities, minerals and metals and of course fossil fuels.
The sheer scale of the problem becomes clear when we add degradation of water, land and usable energy resources to the equation, he added. At the national level, our country has not managed its water resources with care and is right on top of the list of water stressed countries, with water availability falling from 5000 cubic meters per capita in 1951 to 1100 cubic meters in 2006, due to rapid population growth.
He said inequities in the water distribution are also of critical concern. Worldwide, nearly 70 percent of all available freshwater is used for agriculture, as against 9 percent in Pakistan. This larger percentage further speeds up the deterioration of freshwater quality through agrochemical (fertiliser and pesticides). Discharge of untreated industrial effluents has serious negative impact on the environment and human health through water born toxins and diseases.
We have to quickly put in place mass transit systems in major cities, which accelerate the deployment of wind and solar energy, which can provide more than 5 percent of the electricity supply needed in 2030, as incorporated in the energy security plan, he said.
Environmental issues could neither figure systematically in planning and policy documents nor into the projects and programmes approval processes. Investment in natural resources was also not generally oriented towards their sustainability, he said.
In response to these concerns, several environmental related policies such as National Conservation Strategy 1992, Environment Protection Act 1997, and Environment Policy 2005 were approved, in addition to tribunals and other institutional frameworks to deal with pollution issues.
Former director Pide and ex-chief economist Dr A R Kemal said that poverty increases due to environmental degradation. Environmental degradation subsidises the taxes and especially increases the cost of production. Dr A R Kemal suggested that environment friendly techniques should be introduced.
After the inauguration, two panel discussions were held and invited lecture and seventeen papers in the regular session were presented and discussed.
In the afternoon session, the first panel discussion was chaired by Ali Tauqeer Sheikh, Chief Executive office Lead Pakistan. Sheikh said that there is huge environmental cost, which has not only affected the health but also affect, the economy through different channels.
Dr Arshad Mahmood Khan, Executive Officer, Global Change Impact Study Center, Islamabad, highlighted the importance of climatic change. While giving the brief history of climatic change and its effect on human life, he pointed out four major climatic concern such as: increase in variability of monsoon, more rapid increase in melting of glacier, reduction of water reservoir and food insecurity. Syed Ayub Qutub, Piedar, an NGO, Usman Qazi, programme officer, UNDP and others also spoke on the occasion.
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