Lack of association between academia, govt harms climate change steps: Zartaj

• Zartaj Gul says, "Prime Minister was one of the five global leaders talking about climate change in the chaotic world scenario in terms of environmental degradation and mitigation."

ISLAMABAD: Minister of State for Climate Change Zartaj Gul Monday said lack of association among academia, experts and government in the prior regimes had harmed the climate change adaptation measures of the country.

Addressing the Global Development Workshop organized by the UK-based research organizations here, she said the researchers, experts and environmentalists had failed to produce any convincing research on increasing disaster risks and climate change impacts on the region.

Zartaj said, “In previous governments there has been less attention towards supporting innovative ideas and researches to prevent country from serious impacts of global warming. If there were any researcher doing the purpose then the government offices were least interested to promote such inventions.”

The present government had adopted a unique and multi-stakeholder approach to bridge the gap between academia and government for bringing experts and policy makers under one platform, she added. “The government is supporting all researches and ideas produced to address climate change impacts in the region.”

“These workshops will help collaborate with the UK-based organizations working on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and climate change. We will use all such forums for the benefit of mankind and achievement of SDGs,” the minister said.

She said Prime Minister Imran Khan was one of the five global leaders talking about climate change in the chaotic world scenario in terms of environmental degradation and mitigation.

Zartaj thanked the experts for participating in the workshops despite coronavirus outbreak in the world.