ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi has said that Pakistan contributes less than one percent to global warming but it is among the top 10 most-affected countries by climate change and global warming.
He said that by 2050, Pakistan would become one of the most vulnerable countries to face the brunt of climate change and called upon the entire nation and relevant organisations to brace themselves with the help of the international community to minimise the negative impacts of climate change.
The President expressed these views while addressing the “Pakistan-International and National Donors Conference” for relief and rehabilitation, organised by the Pakistan Red Crescent Society (PRCS), in Islamabad on Tuesday.
The conference was attended by the Federal Minister for National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination, Abdul Qadir Patel, Chairman PRCS, SardarShahid Ahmed Laghari, representatives of international and national organisations, NDMA, diplomats, and others.
While highlighting the importance of first-aid training, the President urged the PRCS and other such organisations to launch comprehensive training and skill-imparting programmes to train the youth in first-aid techniques and expertise with the aim to provide immediate relief to the affected population during manmade or natural calamities.
He said that in order to counter the negative fallouts of climate change, the government had taken and was taking multiple steps in different directions at the international, regional and local levels which were, however, hampered periodically by events and shocks taking place in some other parts of the world.
The President further said that the world had become a small place and any negative development like war and natural or manmade disasters taking place in one part of the world affected countries all around the globe. He said that now the world should move from the doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction towards the concept of Total Peace. This, he said, would save trillions of dollars spent on producing weapons of mass destruction and could be diverted towards saving humanity from hunger, disease and poverty and improving and rejuvenating the environment to save the endangered flora and fauna from extinction.
“The people of the country possess an outstanding philanthropic spirit and they always come forward to donate generously in cash and kind and volunteer themselves for rescue and relief efforts to alleviate the suffering of the population affected by manmade and natural calamities,” the President said. He added that concerted and cogent efforts by all the national and international stakeholders were needed to employ all available resources for rehabilitating the floods-affected population.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022