A full day consultative session on framing the provincial climate change policy for Sindh was held at the Sindh Secretariat in Karachi on Thursday.The event, organized by the Civil Society Coalition for Climate Change (CSCCC) in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Climate Change and Government of Sindh, was attended by Senator Sherry Rehman as Chief Guest, Secretary Environment Sindh Mr. Baqaullah Unar, as well as numerous policy makers, government officials including provincial secretaries of various departments, members of the civil society, researchers, academia, private sector, and media.
           Speaking at the event, Chief Executive of CSCCC Ms. Aisha Khan thanked the Government of Sindh for extending wholehearted support for holding the event. She described the purpose of the CSCCC as a networking platform for climate action all across the country at national and subnational level, and the main causes of climate change, national vulnerabilities and the importance of adaptation and mitigation.

                     Mr. Saadullah Ayaz, an environmental expert representing the Ministry of Climate Change, described the importance of the event and the great vulnerability of Pakistan and Sindh to climate change. He said that the National Climate Change Policy works as a guiding document for the country as a whole but the actual implementation of the climate change policies has to be carried out at the provincial level by subnational governments, especially after the 18th Amendment where most of the powers related to environment, forests, and climate change is with the provinces.

                    Mr. Baqaullah Umar said that in recent years we have measured highest temperatures ever in the provinces of Sindh and Balochistan, and if this trend continues the area will be devastated by loss of water, agriculture, forests and land and marine ecosystems. Mass migrations from rural to urban centers will further stress cities which are already suffering from unsustainable growth and the lack of resource and basic services delivery.

                  He said that we need to take steps to ensure the conservation of natural resources like water and forests, and for the reduction of industrial and vehicular GHG emissions which form the bulk of our total GHG emissions inventory. He said that financial budgeting and support for developing countries was one of the biggest issue in the way of the implementation of the Paris Agreement and Pakistan’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) and domestic and international resources needed to be mobilized to support developing countries like Pakistan.
                 Senator Sherry Rehman speaking at the event expressed the importance of developing an integrated approach to climate action and policy making at the national and subnational levels. While sharing key facts of development and environmental indicators, she expressed her concern at the depleting natural resources and increasing trend of natural hazards including toxic air quality levels and smog. 

                  Ms. Sherry Rehman further said that such consultative sessions on environmental and climate policy making were the need of the hour to develop capacities, set a direction and also raise awareness.The inaugural session was concluded by Senator Sherry Rehman formally launching the Pakistan Climate Change Portal, a platform with consolidated research on climate change initiated by CSCCC, and the formation of working groups to develop an implementation framework for the Sindh Climate Change Policy.