ISLAMABAD, May 1: The 18th Amendment Implementation Commission seems hesitant to oblige environmentalists' proposal to transform the Ministry of Environment into Sustainable Development and Renewable Resource Management Division, Dawn has learnt.

“However, the commission does realise the importance of a national designated authority to fulfil national and international environmental obligations as part of a global community,” said a senior official with the ministry.

Under the proposal, which followed the devolution of the ministry to provinces, the division would be placed under the prime minister's secretariat.

According to the official, however, the commission saw the Sustainable Development and Renewable Resource Management Division as an even bigger setup in the federation than before and encroaching on other ministries.

The Ministry on Environment was entrusted with the tasks of designing national policies, plans and strategies on pollution, ecology, forestry, wildlife, biodiversity, climate change and desertification.

Pakistan has ratified 14 multilateral environmental agreements such as Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals, Vienna Convention on Protection of Ozone Layer, Montreal Protocol on Ozone Layer Depleting Substances, United Nations Framework Conventions on Climate Change, Convention on Biological Diversity, Vienna Convention and Montreal Protocol, Basel Convention on the control of Trans-boundary Movement of Hazardous Waste.

The ministry, however, started feeling the brunt of devolution when funding worth millions of dollars was stopped by international bodies, including the $38.6 million from UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

“These are some of the major setbacks. The UNCCD project was already at various stages. Everything has come to a standstill in the last seven to eight months,” said another senior official with the ministry who described devolution as haphazard.

Talking about some projects that could be affected by breaking up of the ministry, the official explained that Pakistan had received $20 million for different projects for removal of ozone depleting substances but another $30 million had been stopped. And the devolution also seemed to have jeopardised more than $770 million investment opportunities from 30 approved projects of clean development mechanism.

“According to the Cancun agreement (UNFCCC, COP-16), only national level reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation emission are acceptable. If we do not have national/federal REDD implementing agency we will not be eligible to procure REDD financing around $100 billion by 2010 and $5 billion by 2012,” the official said, explaining how Pakistan, the 16th most vulnerable country in the world, must have a face in the world on climate change.

“With emerging international concerns, the international community will continue to engage Pakistan as an important regional player in South Asia,” he added.

According to sources, the devolution of the ministry was not just impacting global commitments but also burdening national promises.

The ministry's billion dollars plus air-monitoring system installed with assistance from the Japanese government has remained idle since the devolution process began eight months back.

“Pak-Environment Protection Agency has not held a public hearing on environment impact assessment from construction projects that are defacing Islamabad,” he said, adding: “This is the capital where monitoring is the strictest. One can imagine how environment will degenerate in other parts of the country since the provinces not just lack the capacity but also the inclination to provide for a better environment.”