ISLAMABAD: In an effort to save the environment, a large number of youth participated in ‘The Go Green Rally’ on Friday. Participants cycled, and some walked, from D-Chowk in front of parliament and went as far as the flyover at the end of Blue Area, and then turned back to return to the Heinrich Boll Stiftung (HBS) office, which had organised the rally.

In August this year HBS, which partners with 60 organisations worldwide for their green movement, initiated a campaign called ‘There is no planet B, let’s change our policies, not the climate’ to spread awareness about the formation of policies on climate change and their implementation.

A series of other events have also been planned. The aim is to advocate climate justice and sensitive policy making and to engage youth and other stakeholders in the process. The first of these events was the Go Green Rally.

Talking at the event, Regional Director, HBS, Marion Regina Muller said because the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was going to be held in two weeks, where world leaders will sign agreements, the rally was organised to make the voices of the people heard ahead of the convention.

She said: “The idea of the rally is to go out into the streets and raise our voice that we demand climate justice.”

She said Pakistan was one of the countries that had been affected most by climate change and that life has to be made liveable here.

She added that the elected representatives who attended the rally had heard the youth who had engaged in a dialogue with them in hopes that their concerns will be given heed.

PTI MNA Asad Umar also attended the rally and said the changing climate was becoming worrisome.

He said: “On its path to progress, Pakistan should not make the same mistakes that developed countries have already made, of polluting the planet we live on.”

PML-N MNA Ahsan Iqbal suggested a global partnership for reducing the effects of climate change and said developed countries were responsible for global warming. Therefore, he said, they should assist countries like Pakistan in adapting to the changing climate.

“Climate change has threatened Pakistan’s food security. Our crops are not compatible with the changing weather,” he said.

The minister added that the government was investing in clean energy and was making efforts to ensure food security.

Participants of the rally said they would have cycled more often if there were bicycle lanes like those in developed countries.

Hina Qureshi and Anum Shabir said they both owned bikes but never rode them.

“It felt good to cycle for a change,” Hira Qureshi said.

Another participant, Musa Haroon, felt like he had already made a difference. The seven year old said: “It felt like we were not littering.”

Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2015