Minister for Environments Major Tahir Iqbal (Retd) on Wednesday urged the developed nations to help out the developing nations for putting in place a workable sustainable development mechanism. "Developed nations must express some practicality instead of just making promises as the developing world is passing through a challenging era," he said, addressing the 7th Sustainable Development Conference.
The three-day conference on "Troubled Times; Sustainable Development and Governance in the Age of Extremes" was organised by Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI).
The minister said mankind was passing through troubled times where human beings were killing each others and were destroying the ecosystem as well.
He called for preserving the existing resources like water and other inevitable for the human beings and quoted the example of water availability that had fast declined during the last few decades.
Tahir Iqbal urged a cohesive plan spreading across the globe to reach the destination of sustainability.
He said, sustainable development is at the heart of the government approach, with system and processes now being put in at the highest level to apply an integrated, whole-of-government approach to environmental problems.
"The ministry fully realises, the environment is an equal partner to triple bottom line, and so is doing everything it can while occupying a key place at the table in our Government's decision-making," he added.
He said the government put sustainable development principles into action, providing a solid foundation for sustainability through our input into the country's next Five Year Plan.
"This government has invested more resources than ever before into environmental programmes and in next fiscal total spending by the government on environment, will reach a record," Tahir said.
He said on its part the government has also decided that no future project in the country will be launched without Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).
He observed, debates like this conference and in-depth studies are essential for ensuring effectiveness of current and future strategies to manage environmental governance.
In his opening address, Chairman Board of Governors SDPI, Shamsul Mulk said, established in 1992 to implement the National Conservation Strategy of Pakistan. The SDPI's raison d'être is to provide advice to the government and civil society on sustainable development issues.
He said the 7th Sustainable Development Conference will examine the interface and relations between various dimensions of sustainable development and governance. The Executive Director SDPI Saba Gul Khattak, in her opening remarks gave an overview of the aims and objectives of the Conference.
She also highlighted the achievements of the SDPI and its contribution towards achieving the goal of sustainable development.