PM’s Aide Romina Khurshid Calls for Climate Resilience in Pakistan
Khurshid emphasizes collaborative efforts to build climate resilience and sustainability nationwide.
Islamabad – Prime Minister’s Climate Change Coordinator, MNA Romina Khurshid Alam, emphasized Pakistan’s efforts to combat escalating climate change impacts like heatwaves and floods. The government is implementing comprehensive policies to mitigate these effects, which have resulted in substantial economic losses.
During her address at the national seminar ‘Disaster-Resilient Pakistan’ organized by the National Disaster Management Authority at the National University of Technology, the PM’s aide highlighted the adverse impact of frequent disruptions in weather patterns over the past decade. These disruptions have significantly affected Pakistan’s agricultural productivity, posing risks to food, water, and energy security, as well as livelihoods, exacerbating issues related to hunger and malnutrition.
She emphasized that Pakistan’s geographical location, along with its increased socio-economic vulnerabilities, amplifies the risks posed by the climate crisis.
Reports from international financial institutions, including the World Bank and Asian Development Bank, indicate that Pakistan is expected to face increasingly severe impacts of climate change in the future. These include more unpredictable weather patterns, accelerated glacial melting, rising sea levels, and more intense weather events such as floods and droughts. These effects not only endanger human lives and infrastructure but also worsen existing socio-economic inequalities, as emphasized in the reports.
Quoting from the World Bank study ‘Pakistan: Country Climate and Development Report’, PM’s aide Romina Khurshid highlighted that climate- and weather-related disasters in Pakistan resulted in economic losses totaling US $29.3 billion between 1992 and 2021. These losses, stemming from damage to property, crops, and livestock, amounted to 11.1% of the GDP in 2020.
She added that the devastating riverine floods in 2022 alone led to economic losses and damages exceeding $30 billion, underscoring the urgent requirement for comprehensive action.
Informing the event participants about the current government’s climate risk mitigation measures, Romina Khurshid Alam stated, “The present PM Shehbaz Sharif-led government is taking all-out policy initiatives and implementing various adaptation and mitigation measures to address the country’s worsening climate vulnerability.”
PM’s Coordinator Romina Khurshid emphasized that as part of the climate change adaptation and mitigation measures, the government is focusing on enhanced investments in resilient infrastructure, sustainable agriculture practices, efficient water management, and renewable energy. These efforts aim to build resilience against climate-induced risks and protect the socio-economic sectors and the lives and livelihoods of vulnerable communities, especially in coastal and mountain areas.
She noted that the current government has prioritized climate action to safeguard the lives and livelihoods of the people and ensure a sustainable future for coming generations.
Detailing various policy initiatives, she mentioned that the Ministry of Climate Change and Environmental Coordination is implementing robust policies and frameworks to address climate and environmental challenges. These include the National Environment Policy, National Climate Change Policy, National Forest Policy, the Pakistan Climate Change Act (2017), and Green Building Codes.
Moreover, Romina Khurshid highlighted several projects implemented under these policies and frameworks, such as the Scaling up of Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF) Risk Reduction project, the Living Indus Initiative, Recharge Pakistan, and the Green Pakistan Programme, under which 2.1 billion tree saplings have been planted nationwide.
She informed the seminar participants that the National Adaptation Plan of Pakistan, developed by the ministry in consultation with provincial, national, and international stakeholders, is being implemented to enhance resilience, address vulnerabilities, mobilize climate finance, and manage disaster risks. This includes investing in early warning systems, strengthening climate governance, and enhancing preparedness for effective response.
Highlighting a major challenge, the PM’s aide pointed out the need for adequate funding to implement various policies and frameworks for coping with climate change impacts on socio-economic sectors. She urged the private sector to support and fund the government’s climate resilience initiatives.
“Efforts are being made to engage the private sector by approaching financial institutions, including banking, industrial, and corporate sectors, to invest in climate-resilient development programs and projects under public-private partnerships,” Romina Khurshid apprised the participants. “These efforts will help strengthen the government’s climate action for making Pakistan climate-resilient.”
She emphasized the unprecedented significance of public-private partnerships for building a climate-resilient Pakistan, especially as the country deals with the intensifying impacts of climate change despite limited financial resources and technical capacity. “The private sector’s partnership with the government for collective climate action is crucial,” she noted. “Failure to act swiftly and collectively will only exacerbate the climate vulnerability of the country’s socio-economic sectors, particularly agriculture, energy, water, health, and education.”
During the seminar, speakers emphasized collective responsibility in disaster management and discussed adopting a national anticipatory approach. The Guest of Honour, Rector NUTECH, Lt General (R) Moazzam Ejaz, delivered the closing remarks.
Chairman NDMA, Lieutenant General Inam Haider Malik, briefed attendees on the establishment of a modern National Emergencies Operation Center (NEOC) at NDMA. He outlined NEOC’s capabilities, which include multiple satellite feeds, software, and artificial intelligence tools to generate a National Common Operating Picture (NCOP). This enhances digital risk assessment, early warning systems, and preparedness strategies for Pakistan.
He emphasized the need for comprehensive policies, regulatory frameworks, and cross-sector collaborations to effectively translate knowledge into actionable measures for disaster risk reduction. Additionally, he highlighted the importance of engaging young people to build future resilience and inject fresh perspectives and innovative ideas into disaster management strategies.
The seminar was attended by key stakeholders, including government officials, ambassadors, representatives of UN agencies, development partners, humanitarian organizations, academia, disaster response experts, media, tech professionals, and youth.
All were dedicated to investing in disaster risk reduction and resilience building as key components of sustainable development.
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