Joint strategy being evolved to tackle climate change, build water reservoirs: PM

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday said that a comprehensive strategy is being prepared for the construction of water reservoirs and improve water management in all four provinces, Azad Jammu & Kashmir, and Gilgit-Baltistan.

The development has come as Pakistan has for several weeks been battling monsoon rains, with more than 210,000 people displaced, including 40,000 who left voluntarily after flood warnings since August 14.

The official death toll from the country’s floods since the start of the monsoon season in late June stood at 820 on Friday, half of them in August.

According to the Prime Minister Office (PMO), PM Shehbaz stated that water reservoirs would be built through consultation and complete coordination with the provinces. “Climate change is a reality, and only through effective preparedness can the damages of natural disasters be minimised,” he stressed.

PM Shehbaz emphasises urgent need for water storage infrastructure to combat floods

He further underlined that all provinces, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) , Gilgit-Baltistan, and the federal capital must work together to safeguard people from the adverse impacts of climate change, terming it a national issue that requires collective effort.

Work is already underway on the premier’s directives to formulate an effective policy for timely response to the impacts of climate change and the monsoon, the PM Office said, adding that the working paper of this policy will be shared with all provincial governments to devise a joint course of action.

The statement added that once the emergency situation subsides, the prime minister will convene a high-level meeting with the chief ministers of all four provinces, along with the heads of relevant institutions. The prime minister of AJK and the chief minister of Gilgit-Baltistan will also be invited to the session.