18
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Pakistan Environment Protection Agency
National Council for Conservation of Wildlife in Pakistan
Pakistan Forest Institute
Zoological Survey of Pakistan
National Energy Conservation Centre (ENERCON)
Marine Biological Research Laboratory, Karachi
Global Environment Impact Study Centre, Islamabad
Assigned to Capital A&D Division
Devolved (Hunting areas for foreign dignitaries assigned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs through the concerned provinces)
Devolved to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Assigned to the Ministry of Science & Technologyt
Assigned to the Ministry of Water & Power
Assigned to the Ministry of Ports and Shipping
Assigned to the Planning & Development Division
Assigned to the Planning and Development
Board for winding up
Assigned to IPC Division
Attached Departments/Organizations of the Ministry of Environment
While national policies, plans, strategies and programmes regarding climate change are now being handled by the Planning and Development Division (and, through it, by the Planning Commission of Pakistan), laws, policies, plans, strategies and programmes for climate change at the provincial level and for the other subjects devolved as above are the domain of the provinces. This is fresh policy and legislative ground for the provinces, and an opportunity to begin new efforts towards environmental improvement and climate change adaptation.
A Federal Ministry of Climate Change was carved out post-18th Amendment. However, due to a national economic crisis, budget cuts introduced by the newly elected Federal Government in 2013 resulted in the Ministry being downgraded to a Climate Change Division functioning under the Federal Cabinet Secretariat. Under the “Austerity Drive”, the Federal Government has earmarked only Rs. 59 million to the Climate Change Division for FY 2013-2014 (compared to the Rs. 132 million the Ministry of Climate Change was allocated in 2012-13). Most of the allocation is for ongoing projects (and to pay salaries).
The nature and scale of climate change risk in Pakistan cannot be overemphasized enough. Floods in 2010, 2011 and 2013, for example, are clear evidence of the increased frequency of extreme weather events, as predicted by the NCCP. The energy crisis is self-evident and a water crisis looms.
But with budget cuts limiting the capacity of the Climate Change Division, it falls on the provinces to pick up the slack and evolve province-specific climate change policies. More floods, for example, should be expected in the future and it is imperative the provincial governments take steps, for example, to ensure climate change adaptability and disaster response and rehabilitation. Yet the importance given to these risks can be gauged by a weak NCCP, the limiting of the effectiveness of the Climate Change Division, and by the lack of interest in the subject at the provincial level.