KARACHI: The WWF-Pakistan on Saturday called for investments into conserving climate through environmental education.

“It is high time to integrate conservation in businesses to establish and forge alliances with the private sector willing to invest and pilot bankable projects in Pakistan under the Dutch Fund for Climate and Development (DFCD) initiative,” Hammad Naqi Khan, director-general, WWF-Pakistan, said.

At a signing of an MoU with the Investment Department, Government of Sindh, he said that the idea behind this investment-based conservation model is to bring innovative self-sustaining conservation for profit models.

In Sindh, he said, the Indus Delta Ecoregion has ranked 40th amongst the most biologically rich G200 ecoregions in the world.

“The ecoregion harbours riverine forests along the Indus River, wetlands, mangrove forests in the coastal areas, and desert ecosystems that occupy the periphery of the ecoregion, which needs to be managed sustainably through collaborative efforts,” he added.

The business community should step up support to conserving nature.

He called for bringing innovation in sustainable management of natural resources, and diversifying alternative livelihood opportunities for the marginalized and climate vulnerable communities across Sindh.

Asif Ikram, secretary to government of Sindh, said, “Sindh Investment Department plays a vital role in providing an enabling environment for attracting investment and is keen to boost the country’s growth prospects.”

The department has been supporting businesses in multiple sectors including fisheries, agriculture, livestock, and energy through the Sindh Enterprise Development Fund (SEDF), which are directly linked to natural resource management and are incredibly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, he said.

Thus, he said, the department’s mandate is very much aligned to WWF’s DFCD initiative to promote nature-based bankable projects/businesses.

Such an initiative could also serve as a leading example for institutional partnerships by deploying public and private capital in well-designed and effective climate-friendly projects, he hoped.

The MoU aims to create synergies amongst the key stakeholders and to develop bankable projects with private sector entities and ensure that it can deliver conservation outcomes, while simultaneously making a return on investment.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021