ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that global warming and climate change pose major threat to the country as it will reduce water flow from the glaciers to the rivers.
The prime minister said this, while announcing establishment of 15 national parks under "Protected Area Initiative" on Thursday to generate direct 5,000 jobs.
He added that 10 billion tree tsunami programme was launched to counter global warming, and the threat of climate change. The premier said the decision to set up 15 national parks would be big step for the coming generations, and deplored that there was no understanding with regards to preserving and protecting the parks. At the initial phase, almost 5,000 direct nature jobs will be generated for the youth, said Prime Minister office.
The premier said that local participation was important to preserve national parks being established by the government across the country. The prime minister said that guidelines would also be provided to preserve national parks. He said that unless local people were provided benefit in the form of employment, the parks would not be preserved.
The prime minister said the government would promote tourism with proper by laws.
The prime minister requested the provinces to take the looming threat of climate change and global warning seriously, and undertake the needed steps for the protection of green areas.
He asked the chief minister Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa to take notice of unplanned development on the other side of Margalla Hills, and frame by laws for the opening of tourism in the provinces.
Pakistan has a diverse landscape and has 12 ecological climatic zones.
He, however, regretted that nothing was done in the past 70 years to protect the forests.
The prime minister said his government was also working to develop master plans for the cities and was engaged in town planning.
The prime minister said that eco-tourism was a new thing, and the government had also been working on it.
He stressed the need to protect species such as snow leopards with the support of local people.
The Prime Minister's Office said that as a part of its post-COVID-19 "Green Stimulus" vision, Pakistan was launching its "Protected Areas Initiative" with the dual objective of protecting nature, while also generating jobs for the unemployed youth.
Under the initiative, the protected areas coverage in the country will be enhanced to 15 percent of the country's land area from the current 13 percent, while also ensuring proper management and effective governance of the existing protected areas - most of which exist only as "paper parks".
The parks being established would be covering 7,300 sq km land, spanning the mountains in the north to the scrub forests in the plains, and a marine protected area in the south of the country.
Out of these nine are new and recently declared NPs, while six others were notified, but never protected. All will be made fully functional NPs for the first time, with proper ecological management and governance.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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