ISLAMABAD: The British government on Monday offered to support Pakistan’s green recovery initiative and afforestation programme.

A three-member delegation led by British High Commissioner to Pakistan Dr Christian Turner called on Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam and pledged to support the government’s efforts to restore people’s lives and livelihood affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a statement, the ministry said both the sides discussed matters of bilateral cooperation and opportunities for collaboration in the fields of green economic recovery by enhancing investment in nature-based solutions and green job creations. They also discussed environmental sustainability, climate change, forest management, air pollution and water conservation and protection and disaster risk reduction.

Mr Aslam informed the high commissioner that an ambitious Protected Areas Initiative had been launched under the umbrella programme ‘Green Pakistan’, which is the conservation and promotion of nature-based solutions and creation of green jobs. It aims to expand the country’s protected areas cover from 13 per cent to 15 per cent by 2023 and create 5,000 green jobs across the country.

He said Prime Minister Imran Khan had also approved the ‘Green Stimulus’ package in April this year as a part of the government’s efforts to extend green cover in the county. It would also create job opportunities for the youth under which so far over 86,000 green jobs have been created for daily wagers rendered unemployed because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

He said the climate change ministry had launched several flagship programmes and projects, including the world’s largest afforestation programme of 10 Billion Tree Tsunami Programme, Clean Green Pakistan Programme to achieve environmental sustainability and climate resilience through conservation and protection of environment, forests and wildlife.

The high commissioner praised the government’s green economic recovery and green jobs creation, afforestation programme, Pakistan’s resilience against adverse impacts of climate change on water, energy, agriculture, food security and energy.

Both the sides also pledged to collaborate towards overcoming negative effects of the global health crisis of the Covid-19 pandemic and global warming on various socioeconomic sectors.

“It’s really inspiring that despite limited financial resources, Pakistan launched green stimulus initiative under Clean Green Programme, which has led to creation of thousands of green jobs for those rendered unemployed due to pandemic,” the high commissioner said.

He said the British government would utilise financial, technological and knowledge resources to support Pakistan through its experiences in the overall post Covid-19 green recovery through enhanced investment in green sectors, including forestry, environmental protection and climate change resilience through mitigation and adaptation initiatives in the country’s climate vulnerable socioeconomic sectors.

Published in Dawn, September 15th, 2020