ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Saturday said Pakistan on its part was doing more to fight climate change as the government had allocated a record Rs14500 million budget in the fiscal year 2021-22 in this regard.
On his twitter handle, the prime minister also posted graph showing the Pakistan Tahreek-e-Insaf government's commitment for environment protection to save the future of upcoming generations.
During the fiscal year 2020-21, the government had allocated Rs6000 million whereas in the year 2019-20, the allocation stood at Rs7579 million. These budget allocations for the ministry of climate change were unmatched when compared with petty allocations set aside by the previous governments of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N) to help fight the worsening issue of climate change.
The PPP government in its last tenure made a total paltry budget allocations of Rs185 million to fight the climate change whereas, the PML-N government lagged behind by allocating merely about Rs1778 million in its five years term. To tackle climate change challenges and improve the ecosystem has been among the top priorities of PTI government.
Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin, in his budget speech, had announced the allocation earmarked for various ongoing and new projects of climate change ministry to counter global warming and environmental changes with maximum funding for its flagship project of Ten Billion Tree Tsunami.
Pakistan has recently hosted World Environment Day which was virtually attended by global leaders, global organizations and partners. The hosting of such mega event was a global acknowledgment of Pakistan's rapid response to fight climate change and save the ecosystem.