National Assembly Standing Committee on Climate Change on Friday sought a complete list of the ministry officials who have visited abroad during the last and present years. Meeting of the committee was held under the chair of Dr Hafeez-ur-Rehman Khan Drishak here in the Parliament House.
The chairman of the committee said that officials of Ministry of Climate Change routinely go abroad on official visits to attend different seminars and conferences, but Pakistan is having least benefit of their visits. He said the ministry officials should try their best to collaborate with the foreign research institutions to learn different mitigation and adaptation techniques as Pakistan is one of the worst victims of adverse impacts of the climate change.
The committee also discussed the scrutiny of the budgetary proposal of Climate Change Division relating to the Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) for the budget 2017-18. The committee members recommended the government to increase budget of the ministry to deal effectively with adverse impacts of the climate change.
The National Forest Policy that was recently approved by Council of Common Interests also came under discussion in the meeting. The committee members directed the ministry officials to implement the policy in letter and spirit and develop effective co-ordination with provinces too. The committee members also urged the officials of the Ministry of Climate Change to evolve a monitoring system to ensure that all saplings planted under the Green Pakistan Program turn into trees.