ISLAMABAD: Pakistani government’s decision to make the ministry of climate change a division of the Cabinet Secretariat took environmentalists by surprise.
The status was changed on June 7, 2013, and environmentalists saw more negatives than positives coming from what they called the downgrading of the ministry.
The only plus point, according to some officials concerned, was that like other divisions of the Cabinet Secretariat such as Planning, Cabinet and Aviation, Climate Change Division would be accountable to the prime minister only.
“The only plus point is that it will activate Pakistan Environment Protection Council which is chaired by the Prime Minister,” said Director General Pakistan Environment Protection Agency (Pak-EPA) explaining the importance of the Council that looked into environment degradation across the country and had been inactive for the last few years.
Probably the worst part of the whole move was cut in development budget of the climate change division, he said.
The erstwhile ministry officials had been pushing for a higher budget of around Rs100m and the Planning Commission had principally agreed to it before the budget announcement. Instead of fulfilling the promise the commission dropped four new development schemes proposed by the ministry, officials said.
Officials claimed the cut in allocations might affect Pakistan’s case at the international level.
“If Pakistan is unable to participate in international activities because of lack of funds, the world community might take Pakistan as a non-serious entity in fighting environmental degradation,” said the senior official.
Internews
