The Ministry of Environment is working on a project for "capacity-building for carbon finance in Pakistan" with the Japanese Policy and Human Resource Development (PHRD) grant of 0.57 million dollars through the World Bank. The initial work was started few months back and the project will be completed by January 2010, officials told Business Recorder here on Friday.
The project is being executed by an international consultant firm and the Ministry of Environment has already approved funds for execution of the project, said the officials. The project envisages support to clean development mechanism (CDM) projects preparation and development in priority sectors by conducting training sessions that will involve potential project proponents from both public and private sectors in Pakistan.
The specific objectives of this project are to strengthen institutional framework to promote public and private participation in the carbon market, conducting training/workshops for enhancement of capacities of the local stakeholders, ie public institutions, private investors, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) etc, in CDM projects preparation.
Officials further said that the World Bank would provide financial and technical assistance to the Ministry of Environment for building its capacity to effectively tackle the environmental issues, particularly the climate change. This was decided in a World Bank mission meeting, headed by Ernesto Sanchez-Triana, with Federal Minister for Environment Hameedullah Jan Afridi on Friday.
The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the World Bank's programme for environmental management in Pakistan. Environment Secretary Khushnood Akhtar Lashari, Additional Secretary Imtiaz Inayat Elahi and Director General (Environment) Javed Ali Khan also attended the meeting.
Speaking on the occasion Mr Ernesto Sanchez-Triana, said that they were ready to assist Pakistan for Capacity Building in identifying and developing Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) Projects for the purpose of Carbon Financing. The mission also offered financial and technical assistance for reviewing the environmental legislation particularly Pakistan Environmental Protection Act 1997 and Environmental Impact Assessment Rules and Regulation to make them more effective towards conservation of the environment and natural resources.
In addition, the WB would provide assistance for improving the standards for controlling air, marine and water pollution. The Bank in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment would also organise a consultative and awareness workshop on Carbon Finance opportunities and mechanism.
The Mission apprised the Minister that they are preparing a climate strategy for South Asia. As Pakistan is a leading country in South Asia in efforts to tackle the environmental issues and climate change therefore, stakeholder consultation process in Pakistan would be undertaken under the leadership of the Ministry of Environment.
Speaking on the occasion Hameed Ullah Jan Afridi said that government is committed to address the environmental issues. 2009 has been declared as the National Year of Environment to chalk out a road map in this regard. He said that Pakistan has allocated sufficient funds to promote CDM process. A number of capacity building and awareness programmes have been initiated in collaboration with international partners for enhancing CDM activities in Pakistan.
He said that, we lack the technical and human resource capacity to address the issues of climate change and to develop the CDM projects. He sought the World Bank may assistance in establishing a set up in the Ministry of Environment to formulate model guidelines for developing CDM projects and to adopt measures for climate change mitigation.