NCC Policy: experts call for detailed measures for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Experts have called for comprehensive national climate change policy in the era of global warming to avoid frequent occurring of natural disasters in the country. In this connection, a one-day workshop was held at Archeology Museum Hall at University of Peshawar. Dean, Faculty of Numerical and Physical Sciences, Dr Mohammad Riaz, was chief guest on the occasion.
Experts assessed draft of the new national climate change policy, saying that most of the areas in the policy have been properly addressed. However, the climate change of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and north needs more comprehensive measures. They backed their comments by the facts that 51 percent of the climate change is because of the energy resources and this province is generating most of the energy requirements for the consumers. This point needs to be taken into account in the policy and protective measures need to be taken accordingly.
They said that KP consists of 17 percent forests which is the highest in the country, but the province had to face the devastation of the floods leading to unprecedented loss of lives and property because of dearth of small reservoirs which are environmental friendly and can produce energy as a by-product and also can act a major tool for irrigation. They said that it was high time "that we must increase our area under forests and bring it to the global standard which is 25 percent of the total land of a country".
The group of experts later drafted a list of possible amendments in the policy especially for KP and Fata for possible inclusion in the policy, and handed it over to Director General Environmental Protection Agency, Environmental Department KP, Dr Mohammad Bashir Khan. The workshop was attended by former chairman of Department of Environmental Sciences, Dr Shafiq ur Rehman, Dr Amir Nawaz, Chairman of Dept of Environmental Sciences Dr Noor Jehan and other faculty and delegates from non governmental organisations (NGOs).