Honorable Chief Guest, Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Mr. Sartaj Aziz,
Honorable Minister of Climate Change Senator Mushaidullah Khan
Special Guest Ambassador Shafqat Khakakhel
Executive Director GCISC, Dr. Tariq Banuri
Presented by: Mr. Muhammad Arif Goheer
ISLAMABAD,
DECEMBER 20, 2017: The closing session
of the Science Policy Conference on Climate Change was held on 20 Dec 2017. The
Federal Minister for Climate Change Senator Mushahid Ullah Khan, and Honorable Deputy
Chairman Planning Commission Mr. Sartaj Aziz attend
this session.
Climate change is
a reality. Pakistan is a witness to its adverse impacts. In the past 20 years,
the country has been hit by recurrent and devastating floods, recurrent heat
waves, a prolonged drought, erratic weather patterns leading to lowered
agricultural productivity, emergence of new diseases, and the looming threat of
desertification due to the recession of the Himalayan glaciers.
In the backdrop
of these critical circumstances, the Science-policy conference on climate change
was organized to;
1.
Enhance
scientific understanding of the changing climate and associated impacts on
socio-economic sectors.
2. Develop policy
recommendations to address the challenges affecting Pakistan's development.
3. Promote
coordination among researchers and institutions working on different aspects of
climate change in Pakistan and facilitating their collaboration with
international scientists and experts engaged in similar research activities.
4. Sharing of
knowledge and best practices on adaptation strategies, including capacity
building of national institutions and experts.
The Conference has been organized by GCISC with the support
of several important partners, including the HEC, SDPI, COMSATS, NDMA, PMD,
PARC, PCRET, HBS, NRSP, the University of Utah, and the US-Pakistan Centre for
Advanced Studies in Water and attended by more than 700 delegates representing International
and national research organizations, academia, government, media, law,
parliamentarians and civil society.
31 national organizations contributed to the activities of
this conference in one way or the other.
The participants included Eminent international
Scientists as well as Pakistani Researchers both from within the country and
working abroad Steve Burian, Tom Downing, Youba Sokona, Paul Deshankar,
Jeff Ulemon, Adil Najam, Saleem Ali, Asim Zia, and Abrar Chaudhary and
several young scientists pursuing climate change research aboard were Moetsim Ashfaq, Fahad Saeed, Imran Nadeem, Shabeh-ul-Hasan, Abrar Chaudhary, Chaman Gul, Qurat-ul-Ain Ahmad, Sardar Mumtaz, Sher Muhammad and Sana Ilyas.
The conference comprised of 5 parallel research
workshops. The themes are a) Climate Science, b) Climate and water, c) Agriculture
and Food Security, d) Impacts and adaptation and e) mitigation and policy. The
purpose of these workshops was to allow researchers to present the latest
research on these areas. Each research workshop was distributed into 9 sessions
of one and a half hour each and in each session 3 papers were presented. On
overall 140 papers were
presented.
In the first stream in climate science,
papers reported that mean and extreme temperatures in future are likely to
increase in all parts of the country. However, in case of precipitation, the
models do not give any significant signal except for showing some increase in
the northern parts of the country. Temperature extremes in the form of
heatwaves are going to increase in future over most parts of the country. The need
for effective contingency plan and regular updating of glaciers and glacial
lakes was also stressed
In the climate and water research workshops, the researchers reported that the
number of climate-water related challenges facing Pakistan are increasing. They
include rising temperatures, unpredictable precipitation patterns, glacier
melting, increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, low
storage capacity, poor irrigation infrastructure, recurring droughts and
floods, rising sea levels, environmental degradation, and governance issues
associated with these stresses. Climate change affects the volume and
variability of inflows which poses threats to food security, the safety of
infrastructure, civic services, human health and hygiene and energy security.
The presenters recommended increasing storage capacity, improving water-use
efficiency, institutional capacity building and investing in water saving
projects.
The speakers in the session on agriculture and
food security recommended precision farming, practicing water use efficiency
and employing adopting to various agronomic and breeding techniques.
A Total of 29 papers were presented in
the Mitigation and Policy workshop. The recommended investment in renewable energy,
which has the potential of providing highest economic benefits, decent jobs.
The workshop sessions, round tables and side events
were chaired by Parliamentarians including like Mushahid Hussain Syed, Uzair Malik, Nuzhat Sadiq, Nisar Memon, Malik Amin Aslam, Ms. Nafisa Shah, Ms. Romina Khurshid Alam, eminent scientists and academicians like, Dr.
Iqrar Ahmad Khan, Dr. Yousaf Zafar, Dr. Nadeem Abbassi, Dr. Qamar-uz-Zaman Chaudhary, Dr. Ghulam Rasool, Dr. Muhamamd Ashraf,
and Secretaries like Syed Abu Ahmad Akif, Secretary MoCC, Arif Ahmad Khan
Secretary EAD, Mr. Fazal Abbass Maken Secretary of Ministry of Food Security and
Research and Chairman NDMA.
Besides
mapping the currently ongoing research the Thematic Round tables were also
organized. The objective of organizing the
roundtables was to provide an opportunity for key stakeholders on a priority
issue to consult with each other, establish a platform for future
consultations, and plan future activities in regard to their domain of work,
including, e.g., future research and publication plans, and future meetings and
their expected results. These
round tables covered the issues of water, glaciers, energy, Nationally
determined contributions, climate finance, low carbon development pathways, CPEC,
Information technology and climate change and security. Eminent experts
contributed to the deliberations and present novel ideas.
The
Roundtable on Climate and Finance recommended the following:
-
Need hardcore projects to attract more financing under GCF
-
Growing global renewable energy transition is an opportunity for
developing more projects that are innovative, cost effective and revenue
generating.
-
Should be focusing not just on the GCF but look for other options
for financing as well.
The
participants of NDC roundtable urged the need to invest stringently in
indigenous research, creating and enforcing Biodiversity laws and promoting
sustainable natural development.
Based
on the recommendation of Glaciers roundtable a Glaciers forum is being launched.
Side events were
arranged on the topics of role of media, climate and business, climate and
civil society, national adaptation plans, role of parliamentarians in dealing
climate change and climate law.
Side event on climate and business
highlighted the 4 key areas viz.
1.Relevant and clear policies for
business corporations.
2.Capacity mobilization
3.Finance and funding
4.Project development and support
Which need immediate attention.
Side event on climate and civil society urged
the need of a strong network between civil society and institutes like GCISC
and SDPI in order to tackle CC by conducting
peer learning sessions to identify new innovation ideas that could be
implemented.
Media is the main
vehicle for outreach. In the side event with media close interation of the research institute like GCISC, PMD, PARC and PCRWR with the media was
emphasized for effective communication and awareness of masses on climate
change.
For all such actions
research is required for better informed decisions and we have established the
basis of partnerships through this conference. Hopefully we will work together
in near future for better outcomes.
Two sessions on peoples'
voices were organized by NRSP and SIDA to present and discuss the conditions of
flood and drought stricken people. The affectees shared their experiences and invited the attention for proactive actions by the
concerned to avoid such in future.
SP3C
also acquired poster contributions from different universities and
organizations. Under climate and water theme, the conference received 10
posters, in climate science 7, in food security and agriculture 6, in impacts
and adaptation 8 and in mitigation and finance 2 posters. Lead Pakistan
contributed 8 infographics related to the conference themes, for participation.
The universities and organizations which made the contributions were: LEAD
Pakistan, PCRWR, Pakistan met department, SDPI, CIIT (Department of
meteorology), University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, International Islamic
University, Fatima Jinnah Women University, MUET, NUST, Pir meher ali shah (Arid
agriculture university), Quaid-e-azam university
,Skidmore College New York and GCISC. Participants took keen interest in
the work of the students and young researchers. A technical committee has also
reviewed the poster work and in the proceedings of this session you will hear
the technical committee findings.
The Conference also
provided an opportunity to various organizations to display their work in the
exhibit area. There
were 12 stall contributions, the organizations involved were: NDMA, LEAD, PIDE,
JS Bank, PCRET, MUET, Bahria university, NHMP, GCISC,
SDPI, Roshan Auditory, PARC and PCRWR.
In the essence SP3C 2017 served as a
Rambo comprising of multiple color addressing the climate agenda to a resilient
Pakistan. No matter how much we can do by ourselves on the national level,
whether it be research or development, it is never enough. We have asked the
international experts, most of them are present here, to work closely with the centre to do high quality research and they have shown willingness to enter into a longer-term relationship with the
Centre.
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