Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has directed authorities concerned to begin early preparations to prevent any loss of life or property during next year’s monsoon season and ordered immediate implementation of the short-term plan presented by the Ministry of Climate Change.
Chairing a meeting to review measures to prevent monsoon-related damages in Islamabad on Wednesday, PM Shehbaz Sharif approved the ministry’s short-term plan on the subject and stressed its urgent execution.
The prime minister asked the Ministry of Climate Change, Ministry of Planning, and National Disaster Management Authority to work in close coordination with provincial governments for integrated planning on climate change.
Shehbaz Sharif also called for preparations to convene a meeting of the National Water Council to carry out national-level planning on water management.
He said that, as a developing country, a substantial portion of its GDP was repeatedly diverted to counter the adverse effects of climate change — resources that could otherwise be utilised for development projects.
The prime minister said that unfortunately, Pakistan continued to bear severe consequences of climate change despite contributing almost negligibly to global carbon emissions.
The meeting was briefed on international forecasts and indicators regarding next year’s monsoon. The Ministry of Climate Change also briefed on short, medium, and long-term plans to prevent the monsoon-related losses.
The meeting was attended by federal ministers Ahsan Iqbal, Ahad Khan Cheema, Muhammad Aurangzeb, Dr Musadik Malik, Attaullah Tarar, and relevant senior officials.
Later, Musadik Malik said on Wednesday that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had directed that short-term and long-term steps be taken so that the devastation caused by floods in the past could be prevented from recurring.
Speaking to the media after the meeting held in Islamabad to chalk out a strategy to deal with the effects of climate change, the minister informed that the prime minister had also directed that the drainage system in the country be improved and dykes of rivers be strengthened within 200 days. “Our politics should focus on saving human lives from floods,” he asserted.
Similarly, Malik said, PM Shehbaz had also directed that a meeting of the National Water Council be held. “Apart from that, he has also directed that early warning system be strengthened.”
The minister informed that 40 million people had been displaced by recent floods. “The country has seen four floods after 2010,” he added.
He went on to say that the destruction caused by floods in 2022 was over nine per cent of the country’s GDP. “Over 4, 600 people have perished in the country due to floods during the last three to four years.”
Reporter Awais Kiyani