ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb, while expressing serious concerns over the climate change scenario, has said that owing to climate change, the country was witnessing a severe flooding situation.
While addressing the concluding day of the seminar on sustainable development goals (SDGs) here on Thursday, she said, “For the achievement of the SDGs we have to bring legislation, we can create an enabling environment through legislation to remove the difficulties”.
She said that Balochistan had been severely affected by the recent monsoon rains.
The minister said that unless parliamentarians and representatives of local governments were engaged, no development goal could be achieved. She stressed the need for the upgradation of the water-related infrastructure and said that it was not in the position to cater to the needs of a growing population and bear the burden of the cycle of climate change.
The minister said that under the leadership of former speaker National Assembly Ayaz Sadiq, Pakistan’s Parliament was the first legislature in the world, which institutionalised sustainable development goals. Lauding the efforts made by the then Speaker Ayaz Sadiq for the implementation of the SDGs, she said that he mentored and supervised the SDGs and today its effects were in front of everyone.
She said that today, the provinces had representation in the SDGs framework which was in line with the real spirit of this initiative. She said that in 2016, the SDGs office was established within the parliament, and mobilization was done at the provincial level by establishing its offices in the PIPS premises.
She said that the world was moving beyond the Sustainable Development Goals, as from 2022 to 2030 the SDGs would be monitored and evaluated to see how the targets had been met.
She said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, chairing a meeting regarding disaster management today emphasized the need to work on disaster risk management. Developing countries invest more in disaster response but their budget for disaster risk management had been meagre, she remarked.
She said that the number of women in the SDGs had increased for which Chairperson Parliamentary Task Force on SDGs Romina Khursheed Alam deserved congratulations. The minister said that about 65 percent of Pakistan’s population consisted of youth and their engagement in the SDGs had also witnessed an increase.
The minister opined that even at the district and union council levels, there was a need to involve the youth in policy making for sustainable development goals. She said that in 2016, the budget was allocated for the SDGs for the first time; the budget line was given to the SDGs at the government level.
Marriyum said that unless there were sufficient budget and financial resources, the development goals could not be achieved. The minister said that those countries had achieved their development goal in which the SDGs agenda was given at the local level.
Similarly, she said the developing countries in which government institutions, representatives, members of national and provincial assemblies joined in policymaking, also achieved sustainable development goals and the millennium development goals.
The minister said that when the SDGs Secretariat was set up in 2016, there was no political colour in it, now all the provincial governments were represented in this event which was a welcome development. She said that there were issues of governance within developing countries related to the SDGs, along with the allocation of funds received from international partners and multinational donor agencies.
She said that there was a check and balance at the provincial level on the use of this money and there was a need to check governance issues at the national level. She offered all possible support to the SDG Secretariat in achieving its goals. She said that parliamentarians, local government representatives, and civil society had to look at what legislation could improve the SDGs.
Appreciating the role of the media in the implementation of the SDGs, she said that the Parliamentary Reporters Association was also made a part of the SDGs team.
The minister said that it was the responsibility of all to work for the improvement of education, health facilities, environment, development, energy and economy as this was a national agenda, and everyone should work together to achieve goals.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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