'World needs to focus on development of renewable resources'

Speakers at a seminar on "Vision 2050" said that the world needs to focus on the development of renewable food, energy and other resources which is the only way to meet the future demand. The seminar was organised by Pakistan State Oil (PSO), the leading oil marketing company in Pakistan here on Friday.
Top-level diplomats from several friendly countries, representatives of the World Bank, IUCN, Business CEOs, civil society and academia attended the seminar. Dr Per Sandburg, Managing Director-Business Role, World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) Geneva and Project Director for Vision 2050 offered detailed presentation and his valuable work so far conducted for Vision 2050.
He said that the Vision 2050 project was initiated by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, Geneva, Switz-erland's scenarios that were developed in the late 1990s. It was initiated in response to the need of a "tool" for thought leadership that outlines a business view of the role of business in making the world sustainable by 2050.
He said that the Vision 2050 aims to address thought provoking questions including: What would a vision of a sustainable future look like, what are the pathways and solutions for achieving sustainability, what are the risks for achieving sustainable future, what are the dilemmas we must address to move forward and what are the robust actions, policies and investments needed to move rapidly onto a sustainable pathway.
Kalim A Siddiqui, Managing Director, PSO in his address said that Pakistan State Oil believes in and supports sustainable development and responsible corporate citizenship. This seminar was another successful initiative in this regard to highlight these issues, he added.
He said that with the growing world population it will be a bigger challenge, to meet world's increasing energy demand against depleting resources. In this regard developed countries are required to extend maximum help to the under developed world otherwise, it will be difficult to attain an energy equilibrium, he added.
This seminar provided a useful opportunity for discussion and for putting a spotlight on issues, policies, tools and actions that can contribute towards development of an effective role of business for sustainable development.
Several challenges were highlighted, which included shifting demographics, inter-dependent world, valuing social and environmental impacts, resource scarcity, environmental degradation, inequity, inadequate policy framework, material-based consumption, energy security and climate change. Pathways to address each challenge were discussed in the session.