Hammad Naqi Khan is the DirectorGeneral at WWF-Pakistan. He possesses over 30 years of professional experience in environment, climate change adaptations, water management, resource mobilization and partnership building, market transformation and greening supply chains, and sustainable agriculture with a focus on improving farmers’ livelihood and food security. As a Global Cotton Leader (Aug 2011 to July 2014) under WWF-International’s Market Transformation Initiative (MTI), Hammad has led advocacy approaches, representing WWF in multilateral fora and other policy dialogues. He was a member of the Senior Executive Team (SET) for Asia Pacific Growth Strategy (APGS) for WWF and has also represented the Asia Pacific region in the Network Executive Team (NET) of WWF-international fromearly 2015 to July 2018; in addition to being a member of SWG and WWF GEF Steering Committee. Hammad is a non-official member of the Pakistan Climate Change Committee chaired by the Prime Minister, a Member of the IUCN-Pakistan National Committee (PNC), and a LEAD Fellow.

Following are the edited excerpts of a recent conversation BR Research had with Hammad regarding Earth Hour and what the country needs to do to address the climate change challenge:

BR Research: What is the significance of Earth Hour?

Hammad Naqi Khan: Earth Hour started in 2007 and wasled by the WWF’s office in Australia. It all started with a focus on advocacy around impact of fossil fuel consumption, power generation, energy conservation and theirlink to climate change. Switching off lights and power for one hour was a symbolic gestureto give a message to the masses.

This small, localized initiative is now a global campaign. Hundreds of countries now celebrateEarth Hour. The campaign has also extended beyond WWF. A lot of educationalinstitutes and private sector companies as well as governments around the world - irrespective of a push from WWF – celebrate Earth Hour. There are restaurants that offer candle light dinners; universities, corporations and other stakeholders that conductseminars, discussions, cleanup drives, etc.

BRR: How is Earth Hour celebrated in Pakistan?

HNK: Earth Hour iscelebrated very actively in Pakistan. The scale of the campaign did diminish over the last two years due to the COVID-19. The few activities that did take place during this time primarily included switching off lights at major buildings in the provincial capitals,starting from the Parliament House, to Punjab house, Minar-e-Pakistan, Mazar-e-Quaid, Wapda House, etc.Universities and educational institutes participate and take initiative themselves through debate and poster competitions,etc. Celebrities and sports people also take part actively in the campaign using their social media platforms to spread the message. I would say that things are happening - maybe not at the scale they should have, but they still are.

BR Research: Did you see global expectations getting fulfilled at COP26?

HNK: The last time we spoke, I shared my concern that INDCs were lacking ambition and were not showing any commitment to reduce their carbon footprint. Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) represent efforts by countries to reduce national emissions and adapt to climate change. These have not been aggressive despite the commitments made after the Paris Agreement that every country will enhance them. But I also shared that COP26 will be about updating and upgrading these NDCs. Earlier this year, we participated in COP26 with a large delegation, and the document about INDCs is quite impressive as it now talks about reducing methane, greenhouse gases, bringing more renewable energy, focusing more on adaptation, etc. In that respect, things are apparently promising.

But still there is a long way to go. Pakistan’s contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions is less than one percent, but Pakistan is at the receiving end; ranking amongst the top seven countries most vulnerable to climate change. For us, it is linked to our economy, livelihood and survival. In that respect, a lot more needs to be done. However, as far as the commitments are concerned by the world, we are happy with that.

BRR: Amid the apparently promising international commitments, what needs to be done nationally, urgently to address the climate change issue in Pakistan?

HNK: I normally refer to what my friend once said: What carbon is for mitigation, water is for adaptation. This is so true for Pakistan. For Pakistan, climate change is all about water change, because we have a water-based economy. Most of the available water is used for agriculture,as we have an agrarian economy, most of the agriculture is irrigated agriculture.

The two main sources of water in Pakistan are from snow and glacial melt, and precipitation primarily through monsoon rains. Both are being affected by the climate crisis. Most of the glaciers are melting at a faster pace, and science is clear that monsoon patterns are changing too.

Keeping all this in mind, what do we have to do? Are we managing our water resources correctly and efficiently?

With a growing population, the demand for water continues to increase, and so does the demand for food and industry. Even if we ignore the water needed for the environment, and continue with the same unsustainable agronomic practices and cropping patterns, the solutions become obvious. We have to take some tough decisions like revisiting cropping patterns; and how we treat and value water. People take water for granted whether on an individual basis, community or organizational basis. We must be willing to value water in its literal meaning.

Secondly, we need to get rid of the misconception that thewater notused for agriculture, storageor by the industry is a waste. The wetlands, aquatic life and the delta – all need a certain quality and quantity of water which we are unable to provide.

Getting water for the basic needs of the poor strata of the society is a basic constitutional right, and so water should be completely subsidized for them – no question about that. But what about the upper middle class, the elite, the industry, large farmers? Water pricing is a sensitive issue, but these consumers should pay for the water they consume. Is it worth draining out a wetland to grow a crop witha very small value? These are the discussions policy makers should have.

It’s not that there will be no water at all by 2025. What we mean is that there will be friction and conflict amongst different consumers and departments due to physical water scarcity, and that is what we want to avoid. This primarily hints at the governance issue in water management. That is why we say that there should be a coordinated and an integrated approach by all the departments, including agriculture, irrigation, public health, wildlife, forestry, fisheries, etc. We need to think beyond our constituencies and about the future of the country and our generations to come.

BRR: Do you think that somehow this debate on water pricing and water conservation died down after the water policy was announced? Could you comment on how successful has the government been in addressing the challenge of climate change in Pakistan?

HNK: Pakistan is very good at highlighting issues and drafting policies. Where we lack is execution, implementation and evaluation. We were also very excited that this is a government that has shown a keen interest in climate change; that the PM is a nature lover and is very knowledgeable in this regard. That’s a fact, but the issue is that for every environmental problem, the solution that the government has been presenting is its 10 billion Tree Tsunami initiative. Tree plantation and vegetation is much needed but our challenges are also linked to water as I have explained earlier. We need to solve other solutions to address issue like water management, water quality, ambient air quality in urban centers, solid waste and hazardous waste management, irrigated productivity, fuel quality etc. Yes, we need to improve our water storage capacity, but all our water issues cannot be solved through these upcoming large dams. While we need to improve our water storagecapacity, we need to improve other important areas as well like the ways in which we irrigate our crops, harvest rain water, manage natural disasters like floods and drought, improve water efficiency and productivity, etc.

BRR: This shows how wide and diverse the stakeholders are. How do you recommend to bring them all on one page and one agenda?

HNK: You can either wait for the perfect conditions where everything is ideal; or make do with what resources you have and what they allow and use them to their maximum potential – and this is what I believe in. For example, it took us years to come up with a national water policy and the climate change policy, and a vigorous stakeholder mapping was conducted. It should be mandatory for these stakeholder bodies to sit meet regularly and discuss.

BRR: What are WWF-Pakistan’s plans over the next few years to combat climate change?

HNK: We are strengthening our field presence. We believe we have to demonstrate good environmental practices. We have huge water and agriculture programmes and we are working with 200,000 farmers. We are also working with industries like textile, leather, food and beverages to reduce their water footprint and promote the concept of water stewardship. We are also working on the plastic campaign on how to collect and recycle; pushing and influencing private sector parties to come up with innovative products.