Chnage Think Tank

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 12th Jan, 2017 ) : National Assembly Standing Committee on Climate Change Thursday expressed reservations over representation of provinces, terms and policy of think tank active in the field of climate change.

The committee was met under the chairmanship of Dr Hafeez- ur-Rehman Khan Drishak. Minister for Climate Change, Zahid Hamid, Member National Assembly Malik Ihtebar Khan, Salman Hanif, Muhammad Moeen Watto, Seema Mohiuddin Jameeli, Shahnaz Saleem, Khalida Mansoor, Kiran Imran Dar, Nighat Parveen Mir, Imran Zafar Leghari, Mussarat Ahmed Zeb, Murad Saeed, Abdul Qahar Khan Wadan and Naseema Kishwar Khan also attended the meeting.

The minister briefed the committee in detail about the steps taken by ministry of climate change to overcome the issues related to degradation of forests, desertification, drought and melting glaciers.

The secretary climate change told the committee, the ministry has formed a think tank in 2015 consisting 35 member from civil society, parliamentarian and experts of climate change,the convener of the committee is Qamar Zaman Chaudhary.

Member National Assembly Imran Zafar Leghari expressed serious reservations over zero representation of Sindh province and asked the ministry about the criteria of nomination of members of think tank.

He recommended that the members of the think tank must be selected from the parliament. Leghari said, "After 18th amendment this is not provincial issue. This is national issue and all province should participate in this think tank for the betterment of the country." He suggested that Karachi Met Office should be supervised by climate ministry instead of defense ministry as heat waves are expected in Karachi, climate ministry could address it in a better way.

On the recommendation of Malik Ihtebar Khan chairman committee directed to give presentation on cloud seeding process in the next meeting. Member National Assembly Murad Saeed said,"The terms of reference are not clear, it must be prepared by committee members." While briefing Secretary Environment Balochistan said,"There is no provision of gas in the forest areas of provinces that compel people to cut trees, which is a serious issue that should be addressed immediately ."