ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court was informed that the government of Sindh has made meaningful interventions regarding climate change that include launching a scheme of “afforestation and decarbonisation”.

Sindh Chief Secretary Zahid Akhtar Zaman highlighted before the Supreme Court the other day that Sindh is the only province that has successfully availed carbon credits and traded them in the international market, earning $22 million.

The information was given to a three-judge Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah. Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan and Justice Shahid Bilal Hassan were two other members of the bench.

The court had taken up a petition filed by the Public Interest Law Association of Pakistan through Advocate Feisal Naqvi, highlighting the existential threat that climate change poses to the country.

During the hearing, the chief secretary said that the mangrove forest cover has been expanded against the 2022 baseline to 1.5 million acres besides the forests have been restored on vacated lands through regeneration and planting and tree cover will also be enhanced by at least 300,000 acres.

Chief secretary highlights provincial govt’s efforts to combat climate change

Moreover, EV (electric vehicle) buses and bio CNG buses have been introduced by the transport department in collaboration with the Asian Development Bank and efforts have been made to move to alternative energy resources and a capital investment of $4.225 billion has been made as renewable energy, the Sindh government said.

Likewise, construction of 1.137 million flood/climate resilient houses for flood-affected people of 2022 have been undertaken and that a concrete lining of irrigation channels have been made, spanning over 3,675 miles; 180 small storage/recharge/retention dams have been constructed; sewerage treatment plant (TP-IV) and West Karachi Recycling Project has been introduced; development of climate-friendly crop production techniques have been adopted which include alternative wetting and drying (AWD) method.

In addition, aerobic rice cultivation technology; rice drilling in dry prepared land; biological control of harmful insects; biopesticides; zero-tillage method have been adopted, the Sindh government told the top court.

The Supreme Court observed that it appeared that the Sindh government has been actively working to address the issues of climate change faced by the province.

At the last hearing on July 5, the Supreme Court had regretted that the recent provincial budgets for 2024-25 have failed to earmark any fund or come up with any effective strategies to mitigate effects of climate change when the climate change is a serious existential threat to the people of Pakistan, which affects directly the fundamental rights of the people.

The top court had also regretted that the recent provincial budgets have also not allocated any climate fund for climate change or the provincial government has come up with an effective strategy to deal with the climate change challenge.

The court said that on July 1, the Supreme Court had directed that the Authority under the Pakistan Climate Change Act, 2017, be constituted within a fortnight without fail and the notification of a duly constituted authority be placed on record before the next date of hearing.

However, the secretary for climate change pointed out that interviews have not yet been completed and the authority has not yet been constituted and they require another month to do the needful.

The court also noted that the act was promulgated seven years ago, but the Authority has not yet been established under Section 5 of the Act.

The ministry seems to take the issue of climate change rather casually, the court regretted, adding that the urgency expressed in the matter by the court is because of the upcoming monsoon rains.

The Authority needs to be in place to deal with all climate-related challenges, but the ministry does not appear to understand or appreciate the urgency.

As a last opportunity, the court ordered that the ministry concerned should ensure that the Authority stands constituted and a notification thereof is placed on record not later than on Aug 15, 2024.

In case this is not done the Secretary of the Ministry of Climate Change will appear in person to answer why contempt of court proceedings should not be initiated against him, the court cautioned.

Published in Dawn, August 3rd, 2024