As announced at the Rio+20 summit, Pakistan has a new national sustainable development strategy (NSDS) that will see the creation of a knowledge management system that is based on science, technology and innovation. As reported by SciDev, the knowledge management system will support key economic, environmental and social goals through academic research and foster solution-driven innovation for policy, information gathering, and technology development.
Pakistan’s climate change response objectives include disaster risk reduction and management; vulnerability mapping; community-based adaptation; sustainable land management and building climate resilient infrastructure.
Like many countries around the world Pakistan has been devastated by natural disasters like floods and cyclones that will only increase in a world ravaged by global warming. Many areas of the country are vulnerable to natural disasters including floods along the Indus river is high, and droughts from Baluchistan to the Thar desert.
“Pakistan is at the apex of climate vulnerability in Asia,” Ali Tauqeer Sheikh, chief executive officer of the non-government organisation, Leadership for Environment and Development, said.
“Most of Pakistan’s landmass is vulnerable to extreme events and they will need investments in adaptive capacity,” Anjum Assad Amin, member of Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority, said. “There is an inescapable linkage between climate impacts and sustaining future development in the country,” the strategy document notes.
Pakistan’s economic growth has slumped to 2.6 per cent in the past three years and the country is beset by large inefficiencies in the agriculture, energy and water sectors, putting stress on natural resources.
The strategy will encourage growth while respecting UN millennium development goals and the proposed sustainable development goals. It is expected to attract support from the private sector.
The estimated cost of adapting to future climate impacts is US$14 billion each year
© 2012, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.
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