ISLAMABAD, AUG 17 /DNA/ – Federal Minister for Climate Change Senator Sherry Rehman, during her keynote speech at the “Leaders in Islamabad Business Summit 2022” on the topic ‘Climate Change and Way Forward for Pakistan,’ highlighted, “Climate change is a cross-cutting national issue that needs immediate action. We need to work towards building green technology and green goals  for a thriving business landscape in Pakistan.” 

Taking the floor at the Summit, Minister Rehman stressed, “Seeing the country ravaged with climate catastrophes in the form of long, disastrous monsoon spells, unbearable heat waves, and apocalyptic flash floods, etc. make it all the more relevant for us to talk about how climate change and its environmental impact will directly affect businesses, society, and ecosystems. Balochistan alone faced 605% of rain this year on a 30-year average, leading to damages to life and property. All these changes have made Pakistan the ground zero of climate catastrophe. Damage to agricultural productivity, livelihoods, human health, and economic stability has led to irreversible impacts, including GDP losses of 9.1% (UNESCAP). Until recently, a large number of companies, unfortunately, have freely emitted carbon, dumped effluent in our water bodies, and increased single-use plastic production. We will face disastrous consequences if we keep up with these practices.” 

Highlighting the lack of global climate action, Minister Rehman said, “Pakistan will now have to look at its own climate solutions since the Global leadership is well behind the curve on climate targets. The North has gotten rich from exploiting natural resources, which is why the GHGs have gone through the roof. The pledges are not matched by processes, and the ambitions are not matched by actions. The pace of climate change and its impacts are far more accelerated than the benchmark of 2050 set by world leaders at COPs. Notwithstanding mitigation, which is not a goal to be lost sight of, we are shifting our focus to building a National Adaptation Plan to face climate disasters and create resilience.” 

Addressing the business community, Minister Rehman remarked, “Countries are enhancing their climate literacy and seeking to decarbonize their production cycle. Everybody is looking at the nature to go back to default, which is not happening, it will not, not on its own. We have to reset priorities to level up our resources and face climate disasters head-on. The provinces, too, will need to scale up. Our ambit is to provide them with policy guidelines. We need to build green technology and goals, and we would appreciate initiatives from the Tech companies. Many companies are merely greenwashing their pollution by funding projects to merely tick boxes with a dash of CSR. This needs to stop. Companies with innovations and technology to help deal with this climate crisis are welcomed and should come forward. A company’s climate plan should not stop at decarbonization; rather, it should start there. Transparent & ethical sourcing of materials, environmentally conscious manufacturing practices, waste-conscious packaging, shipping choices negating carbon footprint are just a few ideas of sustainable practices.”

DNA

Islamabad, AUG 17: A first-ever Energy Performance Awards 2022 in Pakistan was organized by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in Islamabad.The event was graced by Federal Minister of Industries and production Syed Murtaza Mahmud, who as the chief Guest distributed awards among the winners.

Honorable Minister in his remarks said, “It is heartening to see that UNIDO is bringing a new concept to incentivize energy efficiency actors in Pakistan. It is indeed an honor for the people, government, and other relevant institutions of Pakistan that UNIDO has worked so hard and achieved so much in this project that was much needed in an energy deficient environment.

Mr. Tareq EMTAIRAH, Director Energy – UNIDO, joined virtually from UNIDO HQ Vienna, and shared with the audience, “Pakistan, brings with it a broad yet specialized global expertise from UNIDO with its successful approaches to energy transition and energy efficiency. The success of this project is evident from the fact that a new paradigm of energy excellence has been created, where many industries have embraced the new concept of the energy management system and have gained immensely in terms of cost saving as well as continual improvements at operational levels.”

Speaking on this occasion, Mr. Julien Harneis, UN Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator in Pakistanappreciated UNIDO and the GEF for creating avenues to jointly counter climate change, a global challenge. He added the steps taken to introduce energy management standards to improve industrial development are indeed commendable and this is high time that we should all work together to reduce their adverse impact on the environment.”

Earlier, opening the ceremony, Ms. Nadia Aftab, UNIDO Country Representative, extended appreciation to the applicant industries for participating and said, “The objective of the UNIDO Sustainable Energy Projectis to reduce GHG emissions through Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency technologies, meets many of the 17 SDGs but is closest to SDG 9, which is related to Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure.”. She also opined on UNIDO’s mandate to eradicate poverty through inclusive and Sustainable Industrial development whichimplies that no one is left behind and all parts of society benefit from industrial progress.

Dr. Sardar Muhazzam, MD National Energy Efficiency, and Conservation Authority appreciated the efforts of UNIDO and the GEF in setting up new standards for industries with the implementation of an Energy Management System in the industries in Pakistan.

The Energy Performance Awards for Industry were heldunder UNIDO’sproject “Sustainable Energy Initiative for Industries in Pakistan” a project funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), in collaboration with National Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (NEECA), and other sector project partners in Pakistan. The event was attended by a large number of professionals including the top management from the industry, as well as participants from academia, public sector organization, development agencies, energy service companies, etc. The award’s objective was to set a platform for a regular national event to motivate the industrial sector to shift toward clean and green technologies, through recognition and appreciation of the high achievers for their commitment and hard work towards energy improvements in the industry under the project’s Energy Management System implementation program in the 50 enterprises.

The event featured an informative overview of the project as well as the Awards scheme and the whole process shared by Mr. Masroor Ahmed Khan, National Project Manager UNIDO. The event conferred the best performing Enterprise Award to Serena Hotel Islamabad. while the best performing consultant award toArch Associates. Additionally,the best Energy Professional Awards were conferred to Ms. Syeda Mehdia of Ebrahim Textile (woman professional in the energy sector) and Mr. Fahad Ali Amjad of EMCO Industries.

Another highlight of the event was the formal launch of the newly established Energy Desk at the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Authority (SMEDA). Energy Desk is one window facility established to facilitate SMEs on issues related to energy efficiency and Renewable Energy. Mr. Hashim Raza, CEO Small, and Medium Enterprise Authority oriented the audience on Energy Desk,for details visit https://energydesk.smeda.org.

UNIDO is a specialized agency of the United Nations focusing on Inclusive and Sustainable Industrial Development in the developing world. UNIDO works on different projects which are directly or indirectly related to inclusive and sustainable industrial development, Climate Change, Trade, etc. In all projects where UNIDO provides technical assistance, it is ensured that the project is sustainable and adaptable for the private sector.  UNIDO is fully working on its theme of ISID (Inclusive and Sustainable Industrial Development) which refers active participation of women along with men in all aspects of Inclusive and Sustainable industrial development. For more information, please visit the website https://www.unido.org.

DNA

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leadership strongly reacted strongly to the Islamabad district and sessions court’s approval of a two-day physical remand of Shahbaz Gill in order to forcibly get false statements against Imran Khan and the PTI.

PTI Chairman on Wednesday expressed his deep concern over the court’s decision to send Shahbaz Gill into police remand again. 

Imran Khan stated that he was in a fragile state of mental and physical health because of the torture inflicted on him when he was abducted, taken to undisclosed location and then again at the police station. 

The PTI chairman said that this was part of conspiracy to target him and the PTI by forcibly getting false statements against them similar to what they have been doing against social media activists. 

“This is absolutely unacceptable. We will take all legal and political actions to counter not only this torture being inflicted upon Shahbaz Gill but also any such extra-Constitutional and extra-legal actions being devised against us,” he added.

Meanwhile, PTI Senior Vice President Fawad Chaudhry also strongly reacted to the order and said that judges sending political workers on police remand to be subjected to torture, while knowing everything, were national criminals.

Fawad said that there is no parallel to the way human rights were being utterly destroyed in Pakistan. He said that Gill was being sent into police custody for torture instead of interrogation.

Separately, PTI Senior Vice President Dr. Shireen Mazari said that the regime change conspirators were getting desperate to try and get something against Imran Khan and now using Shahbaz Gill by torturing him to force false statements, which he has so far resisted despite extreme torture first when he was abducted to unknown location and then at CIA cell.

She said that the re-sending of Gill on police remand was something that was very rare after judicial remand has been granted. 

Dr. Mazari lamented that Pakistan’s descent into fascism was happening at a furious pace but we will resist to the full.

ISLAMABAD, AUG 17: /DNA/ – UNODC has concluded Awareness Raising Sessions on ‘Prisoner and Human Rights for Women and Juvenile Inmates’ in the Special Prison for Women and Juvenile, Sukkur, Sindh on 17 August 2022. The participants included 25 women and 8 juveniles Under Trial Prisoners (UTPs). The aim of this initiative is to advocate the rights of prisoners to legal aid as an essential mechanism for have a fair trial enshrined in the basic principles of human rights.

UNODC Country Office in Pakistan (UNODC COPAK) and UNODC Headquarters Vienna, with the support of the Chinese Government, initiated these unprecedented awareness raising sessions in close consultation and cooperation with the Sindh Prisons Department.

Prior to the session held in Sukkur, UNODC had conducted 3 Awareness Raising Sessions in Karachi and Hyderabad for inmates of Special Prisons for Women and Juveniles. Overall a total number of 161 women and juvenile UTPs have attended the sessions in Sindh, out of which 109 were women and 52 juveniles. The first two sessions were held in Karachi on 7 and 8 June 2022 for women and juveniles, and the third session was held in Hyderabad for women on 14 June. All the sessions were geared towards advocating the rights of prisoners to legal aid; ensuring their understanding of equal access to justice that includes the provision of support to those without the means to actively enforce and protect their rights.

In the words of keynote speaker, Mr. Mehmood Ahmed, Lawyer Sindh High Court and Senior Legal Aid Expert, “Legal Aid is the major alternative to incarceration available at large in Pakistan to provide timely relief to the marginalized under trial prisoners”.

The inmates greatly appreciated the institution of this programme. They expressed the need for these sessions to continue, as it gives them an opportunity to have direct access to lawyers to interact with them and to fully understand the provision of free legal aid.

These sessions were attended by Superintendents of the respective jails, jail staff, lawyers from Sindh High Court (Karachi, Hyderabad and Sukkur), law graduates, and Sindh Legal Aid staff. The panelists comprised of UNODC Programme Officer (Prisons) and Sindh Prisons Staff.

This intervention is carried out under the Prisons Component of the Criminal Justice and Legal Reforms Programme of UNODC COPAK that specifically focuses on bridging communication gaps between UTPs and their families/relatives, and lawyers; advocating the right to legal aid; and on improving coordination between legal aid providers and prisons personnel, including recommendations on future endeavours.