ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN: The Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSF) in collaboration with Centre for Strategic Perspectives (CSP), Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI) organized a conference: “Regional Cooperation on Climate Change in South Asia” at the premises of ISSI, on 22nd November, 2022.
Ambassador Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry, Director General ISSI and Dr. Neelum Nigar, Director, CSP, in their introductory remarks welcomed the panelists and the guests and stressed the importance of such events.
Resident Representative of HSF Pakistan Dr. Steffen Kudella, remarked that climate change is an important matter, which needs addressing at the national, regional and the global level. It is important to talk to all the key stakeholder and take them on board.
Keynote Speaker Ambassador Shafqat Kakakhel, Chairperson BoG, SDPI said that South Asian region is vulnerable to Climate change and UN IPCC reports have identified these challenges. The region is frequented by climate induced calamities still different agreements under the SAARC on Climate have not been implemented due to lack of political will.
In the first session on climate diplomacy, Dr. Philipp Johannes Zehmisch said that lack of funds was impacting Pakistan’s Climate change performance. Climate change is an all-encompassing area from disaster relief to mitigation.
Ms. Aisha Khan, Executive Director for Civil Society Coalition for Climate Change (CSCCC), said that we do not need to rely only on extensive financing but also need to explore other options. “Principle of equity should be respected”, she said. Another point she mentioned was to link public finances to formal finance. Challenges of migration and huge displacement of people and their subsequent rehabilitation is a challenges which remains.
Dr. Shailly Kedia, Associate Director, TERI, Delhi, spoke on climate diplomacy. She said that “climate financing needs de-coupling from political differences in South Asia. It should shift from countries to people”.
Mr. Ali Tauqeer Sheikh, Advisor, Ministry of Planning said that “traditional approaches to climate change in South Asia will not work”, and that “the more information we share, the more confidence building measures will be there”.
Ms. Anam Rathor, Technical Advisor Climate Finance, GIZ, speaking on climate financing, stressed that everyone needs to be accountable for climate based funds. Also, “how much access does Pakistan have to such funds”
Dr. Imran Khalid, Director, Governance and Policy, WWF, speaking on transitioning towards a green economy, said that “focus needs to be on sustainability. Policies are there, but are not being implemented. Climate change pertains to all of us. Almost none of the waste water in Pakistan is treated”. He suggested options such as having urban policies that take into account re-generative frameworks, address re-cycling waste, cutting costs, focusing on renewable such as solar and wind, which Pakistan has plenty of, having building codes for energy effective housing, having green businesses and jobs and re-thinking mobility”
Dr. Rezaur Rahman, Institute of Water and Flood Management, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, stressed on working on the improvement of the quality of life and reducing inequality across the board. He said that South Asian countries need to focus on regional energy grids and have a sustainable consumption outlook.
The Vote of Thanks was collectively given by ISSI’s Ambassador Khalid Mahmood, Chairman BoG, ISSI and the HSF.
The conference comprised of three technical sessions and aimed to generate and sustain regional dialogue on key topics: the first session focused on Climate Diplomacy, the second session focused on Climate Financing and the third session on transition towards a green economy. The event was attended by national and international academicians, including governmental and non-governmental stakeholders.
The session panelists were from Germany, Pakistan, India and Bangladesh, among other countries.
The conference on Regional Cooperation on Climate Change in South Asia falls under the realm non-traditional security challenges, which is one of the focus areas of HSF Pakistan. Overall, the ubiquitous nature of this threat was underscored and the need to securitize and then address it multilaterally was emphasized.
You may find training photos at https://twitter.com/HSF_Pakistan. For more information on HSF Pakistan, please visit https://pakistan.hss.de. Press contact: islamabad(at).hss.de