KARACHI: The country's largest economic contributing exports sectors - leather and textiles are striving to meet the international environmental standards in a bid to stay competitive on the world market.
This was stated by speakers at a news media briefing, organised by the WWF-Pakistan under its International Labour and Environmental Standards Application in Pakistan’s SMEs (ILES) project at a local hotel the other day.
Mehak Sikander, Coordinator Freshwater Programme, WWF-Pakistan said that the textiles and leather sectors are the country's largest export earning sectors.
She said; however, both sectors are grappled with serious business challenges from the compliance issues, raw material availability, besides competitions on the global market.
Through this project, she said that the capacity of relevant departments was developed to effectively enforce the environmental laws and standards in Pakistan.
The project also aimed to promote resource efficient and cleaner production practices in the textile and leather sectors, she said.
Sikander said that the ILES project supported more that 50 Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to adopt smart environmental management practices helping annually conserve 1.54 million cubic meters of water and 130 million kilowatt hours of energy, save 37,462 tons of chemicals and eliminate 37,483 tons of carbon emissions. These initiatives resulted in saving around 530 million rupees annually, she added.
To train and build the capacities of public sector institutes and enterprises, project conducted over 62 workshops in different cities across Pakistan.
These workshops aimed at improving reporting mechanisms for multilateral environmental agreements, sustainable development goals and international environmental laws and standards.
Moreover, the project also developed six documentaries on resource conservation in textile and leather sectors. The project also supported in drafting cleaner production policy for Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA)
Imran Sabir, Director, SEPA, said that the agency is conducting monitoring of environmental compliance in the textile and leather industries of Sindh.
With the support of WWF-Pakistan, the agency plans to introduce the online portal to digitalize environmental monitoring and evaluation mechanisms in the province.
He said that this was for the first time that the initiative was taken to digitalise the environmental monitoring data.
Moreover, he said that environmental degradation should be addressed as it leads to climate change and environmental challenges to the country.
“We are committed to support initiatives which are environment friendly and promote sustainable development in Pakistan”, he added.
Irfan Ansari, General Manager Sustainability and Utilities, Al-Rahim Textile Industries, shared that it is essential to conserve water, reduce carbon 6 ensure wastewater treatment for sustainable growth of the industries in Pakistan.
He said that the textile industries should promote sustainable production and ensure responsible management and use of the natural resources.
He further said that their textile brand has reduced the water consumption by 40 per cent and increased the water recovery by 50 per cent through efficient wastewater recycling. He emphasised the need for taking initiatives that help contribute to the protection of natural resources and promotion of sustainable production.
This 8-year project (2017-2024) supported by European Union (EU) is implemented at Karachi, Lahore, Faisalabad, Sialkot, Hub and industrial areas in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
This project aims to support the enforcement, implementation and compliance with the international labour and environmental standards by public and private sectors in Pakistan.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
Comments