Pakistan joined the international community in celebrating the “World Environment Day 2021”, as its global host, on 5 June 2021. For last four decades, the world has been observing this Day as the largest global platform for raising public awareness about the pressing environmental challenges.
As one of top ten most climate vulnerable countries, Pakistan highly values the global efforts to combat climate change, halt and reverse biodiversity loss, eliminate pollution, and restore ecosystems. The observance of World Environment Day 2021 on the theme of “ecosystem restoration” is fully aligned with Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Green Vision, as manifested in Pakistan’s flagship “ecosystem restoration Initiative.”
This year’s World Environment Day carried special significance because it also witnessed the formal launch of “United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030”. The hosting of World Environment Day 2021 in Pakistan is an acknowledgment of our country’s swift transition towards a “clean and green” Pakistan through a well-articulated climate change and environmental agenda consisting of a number of flagship green initiatives on the ground.
Pakistan is already in the midst of one of the world’s most ambitious efforts to expand and restore its forests, having already planted a billion trees as part of its 10 Billion Tree Tsunami Project. In its quest for a Green Future, Pakistan has already set policies in motion to make by 2030, 60 percent of our energy mix, clean and green and shift 30 percent of road transport to electric vehicles.
It is high time for the international community to raise ambition and translate political commitments on combating climate change and environmental degradation into tangible actions on ground. However, for developing countries like Pakistan, this would not be possible without provision of sufficient support by developed country partners in the form of means of implementation: green finance, technology transfer, and capacity building. Going forward, we reaffirm our commitment to playing our due role in combating climate crisis, protecting biological diversity, and ecosystem restoration.
