· Web viewChapter 2 Implementation of Agenda 21 and JPoI 2.1 Introduction Pakistan has made considerable progress in promoting sustainable development through integration of economic,

Sustainable Development in 21st

Century

(Country Report – Rio+20)

Ministry of Climate ChangeGovernment of Pakistan

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Ministry of Climate ChangeGovernment of Pakistan

Table of ContentsForeword................................................................................................................................. ivList of Abbreviation……………………………………………………………………....vList of Figures, Tables and Boxes..……………………………………………………viiiExecutive Summary……………………………………………………………………...ix

Chapter 1: Post-Rio Sustainable Development Scene................................................11.1.Introduction.......................................................................................................................................11.2. Integrated planning and decision making................................................................................1

1.2.1.Economic Dimension............................................................................................................. 11.2.1.1. Economic Growth...............................................................................................................11.2.1.2. Resilience in Economic Growth....................................................................................21.2.1.3. New Framework for Economic Growth.....................................................................31.2.1.3.1 Focus on Efficiency of Production............................................................................31.2.1.3.2 Growth Drivers and Investment..................................................................................31.2.1.3.3 Implementation and Results Based Management...............................................31.2.1.4 Green Economy.....................................................................................................................41.2.2. Environmental Dimension..................................................................................................61.2.2.1. Institutional and Legislative Developments..............................................................61.2.2.2. Policies and Strategies......................................................................................................61.2.2.3. Response to Climate Change..........................................................................................71.2.3. Social Dimension....................................................................................................................81.2.3.1. Implementation of MDGs.................................................................................................81.2.3.2. Poverty Reduction Initiatives..........................................................................................91.2.3.3. Social Safety Nets.............................................................................................................111.2.3.4. Protection from Natural and Man Made Calamities.........................................12References........................................................................................................................................... 13

Chapter 2: Implementation of Agenda 21 and JPoI......................................................162.1.Introduction....................................................................................................................................162.2. Sectoral Aspects of Economic and Social Dimension.................................................16

2.2.1. Production and Consumption.........................................................................................162.2.2 Trade Regime..........................................................................................................................192.2.3 Demographic Dynamics.....................................................................................................192.2.4 Development of Human Settlements..............................................................................202.2.5 Protecting and Promoting Human Health..................................................................21

2.3. Conservation and Management of Resources for Development............................212.3.1 Planning and Management of Land Resources........................................................212.3.2 Enhancement of Forest Cover.........................................................................................222.3.3 Conservation of Biodiversity.............................................................................................232.3.4 Biotechnology.........................................................................................................................242.3.5 Sustainable Mountain Development..............................................................................242.3.6 Fresh Water Resources.......................................................................................................242.3.7 Agriculture and Rural Development.............................................................................252.3.8 Ocean and Seas......................................................................................................................25

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2.3.9 Atmosphere and Climate....................................................................................................262.3.10 Management of Waste......................................................................................................272.3.11 Chemicals and Hazardous Waste Management.....................................................282.3.12 Radioactive Waste Management...................................................................................29

2.4. Strengthening of Major Groups...........................................................................................292.4.1 Non-Governmental Organizations.................................................................................302.4.2 Local Authorities...................................................................................................................302.4.3 Youth.......................................................................................................................................... 302.4.4 Women.......................................................................................................................................312.4.5 Business and Industry.........................................................................................................31

2.5. Means of Implementation........................................................................................................322.5.1 Institutional Framework....................................................................................................322.5.2 Financial Resources.............................................................................................................322.5.3 Technology transfer.............................................................................................................332.5.4 Promoting Education, Public Awareness and Training........................................342.5.5 International Cooperation.................................................................................................35References........................................................................................................................................... 37

Chapter 3: Challenges and Constraints............................................................................393.1.Introduction....................................................................................................................................393.2. Challenges Unique to Pakistan.............................................................................................39

3.2.1. War on Terror....................................................................................................................... 393.2.2 Climate Change...................................................................................................................... 403.2.3 Demographic Challenge......................................................................................................41

3.3. Global Recession..........................................................................................................................423.4. Other Issues in Sustainable Development........................................................................43

3.4.1 Institutional Setup.................................................................................................................433.4.2 Legislation and Regulations.............................................................................................443.4.3 Lack of Implementation framework..............................................................................443.4.4 Institutional Capacity..........................................................................................................443.4.5 Environmental Accounting...............................................................................................453.4.6 Governance..............................................................................................................................463.4.7 Citizens’ Participation.........................................................................................................463.4.8 Sustainable Production and Consumption.................................................................473.4.9 Natural Resources Protection and Management......................................................473.4.10 Monitoring and use of Sustainable Development Indicators............................483.4.11 Resource Constraints........................................................................................................49References........................................................................................................................................... 49

Chapter 4: Implementation Imperatives..........................................................................514.1.Introduction....................................................................................................................................514.2. Means of Implementation........................................................................................................51

4.2.1. Institutional Framework...................................................................................................514.2.2 Action Plan/Framework.....................................................................................................534.2.3. Legislative and Regulatory Stops...................................................................................54

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4.2.4 Financing the Change.........................................................................................................544.2.5. Institutional Capacity and Governance.......................................................................554.2.6 Civil Society Involvement...................................................................................................564.2.7. Environmental Accounting/Internalization of Environmental Costs.............564.2.8 Science, Technology and Innovation (STI)................................................................564.2.9 Awareness Raising and Communication.....................................................................574.2.10 Flexibility in Implementation.........................................................................................574.2.11 International Cooperation...............................................................................................574.2.12 International Institutional Arrangement for Sustainable Development.......57References........................................................................................................................................... 59

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Foreword

Pakistan has made tremendous strides in promoting sustainable development since the Earth Summit held at Rio in 1992. It has developed an institutional framework, legislation and regulation as well as policies on various aspects of sustainable development. Above all, it now has a national strategy for sustainable development formulated after developing consensus among stakeholders. However, the country still has to go a long way on the path of sustainable development with a large segment of its population under poverty line, low economic growth rate and environmental damage and loss of natural capital amounting to 6 percent of its GDP per year. Pakistan’s effort to achieve sustainable development has been severely hindered by a combination of unfavorable internal and external factors in recent years. Among these the most prominent ones are the war on terror, socio-political turmoil, natural disasters, especially the major floods of 2010, the impacts of the global economic recession and sharp hike in the prices of food and fuel, lack of financial and technical resources and inadequate cooperation from international community. Despite these challenges, Pakistan has firm resolve to continue its efforts for achieving sustainable development.

We consider the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), as a landmark event which offers a unique opportunity to Pakistan and the world to learn from each other’s experiences and best practices, discuss old as well as new and emerging issues, and build consensus on effective and meaningful solutions to issues that impede sustainable development in the only globe that we have. The fact that all nations have indicated their willingness to participate in the forthcoming event is indicative of the global consensus for producing change through dialogue and inter-action. This in itself is a major success that would hopefully materialize in practical outcomes of the Conference.

This report on Sustainable Development in Pakistan prepared for the Conference gives a resume of progress made by the country in the implementation of Agenda and outcome of the World Summit on Sustainable development held at Johannesburg in 2002. It also highlights the challenges and constraints that the country has faced during the implementation and suggests the steps that can be undertaken to improve the situation. The report also presents Pakistan’s perspective on Green Economy and International Institutional Framework for Sustainable Development Arrangements. Hopefully, the report will provide insights into the challenges of the developing countries like Pakistan are facing in the wake of lack of financial resources, technology and inadequate international cooperation.

I would like to thank Dr Mohammad Aslam Khan, Professor, University of Peshawar, lead author of this report and Mr. Jawed Ali Khan, Director General Ministry of Climate Change and Mr Irfan Tariq, Director Ministry of Climate Change, whose efforts have enabled produce this report.

Minister for Climate ChangeGovernment of Pakistan

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List of Abbreviations

ADB Asian development bankADP Annual Development ProgrammeAEDB Alternative Energy Development BoardAJK Azad Jammu and Kashmir ALGAS Asia Least-Cost Greenhouse Gas Abatement StrategyAPTPMA All Pakistan Textile Processing Mills AssociationBISP Benazir Income Support ProgrammeBOD Biological Oxygen DemandBT Bacillus thuringiensisCBD Convention on Biological Diversity CBR Crude birth rate CCI Council of Common InterestsCDM Clean Development MechanismCDR Crude death rateCIDA Canadian International Development AgencyCNG Compressed Natural Gas COD Chemical Oxygen DemandCPI Cleaner Production InstituteCSD Commission on Sustainable Development CSR Corporate Social ResponsibilityDISCOs Distribution CompaniesECC Economic Committee of the Cabinet ECNEC Executive Committee of the National Economic CouncilECOSOC Economic and Social Council of United NationsENERCON National Energy Conservation CentreFAO Food and Agriculture OrganizationFATA Federally Administered Tribal AreasFBR Federal Board of Revenue FDI Foreign Direct InvestmentFERTS Fuel Efficiency in Road Transport SectorFFC Federal Flood CommissionFIEDMC Faisalabad Industrial Estates and Development CompanyG77 Group of 77 countriesGDP Gross Domestic ProductGEF Global Environment Facility GENCOs Generation CompaniesGHGs Green House Gases GRRN Gender Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Network GoC Government of ChinaGoP Government of PakistanGTZ Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische ZusammenarbeitHSD High Speed Diesel IA Industrial Association IAEA International Atomic Energy Agency

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ICID International Centre for Infectious DiseasesIFAD International Fund for Agricultural DevelopmentIMF International Monetary FundIMR Infant mortality rateIPRSP Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper ISO International Standard OrganizationIUCN International Union for Conservation of NatureJICA Japan International Cooperating Agency JPoI Johannesburg Plan of ImplementationLEADs Leadership for Environment And DevelopmentMAF Million Acre FeetMDGs Millennium Development GoalsMEA’s Multilateral Environment AgreementsMFF Mangroves for the Future MoF Ministry of Foreign AffairsMOI Ministry of IndustryMSA Maritime Security Agency MTDF Medium Term Development Framework mtoe million ton of oil equivalentNAP National Action ProgrammeNBEC National Bio-safety Expert Committee NCS National Conservation StrategyNDMA National Disaster Management AuthorityNEC National Economic CouncilNEEDS National Economic and Environmental Development StudyNEIMS National Environmental Information Management System NEQS National Environmental Quality Standards NFC National Finance Commission NGO Non Government OrganizationNIP National Internship ProgramNPDEW National Policy for Development and Empowerment of Women NSAP National Strategy and Action Plan NSDS National Sustainable Development Strategy NTACC National Technical Advisory Committee on ChemicalsNTPD National Tree Planting Day ODS Ozone Depleting Substances OECD Organization for Economic Co-operation and DevelopmentPA Protected Area PAEC Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission Pak EPA Pakistan Environmental Protection AgencyPBM Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal PCAP Pakistan Clean Air Programme PCSD Provincial Commission for Sustainable DevelopmentPEPA Pakistan Environmental Protection ActPEPC Pakistan Environmental Protection CouncilPIDE Pakistan Institute of Development Economics

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http://www.icid.com/

PIEDMC Punjab Industrial Estates and Development CompanyPNRA Pakistan Nuclear Regulation Authority POPs Persistent Organic Pollutants PPP Purchasing Power ParityPPP Public-Private PartnershipPPPBMA Pakistan Pulp, Paper and Board Mills Association PRSP Poverty Reduction Strategy PaperPSDP Public Sector Development ProgrammePTA Pakistan Tanners AssociationRSC Regional Steering Committee SAARC South Asian Association for Regional CooperationSAICM Strategic Approach to International Chemical Management SD Sustainable Development SDG’s Strategic Decisions GroupsSLM Sustainable land management SROs Statutory Regulatory OrdersSTI Science Technology and InnovationTFR Total Fertility RateUN United NationsUNCBD United Nations Convention on BiodiversityUNCCD United Nations Convention on DesertificationUNCED United Nations Conference on Environment and Development UNCSD United Nations Conference on Sustainable DevelopmentUNCTAD United Nations Conference on Trade and Development UN DESA United Nations Department of Economic and Social AffairsUNDP United Nations Development ProgrammeUNEP United Nations Environment Programme UNESCAP UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural OrganizationUNFCCC United Nations Framework Convention on Climate ChangeUNFPA United Nations Population FundUNICEF United Nations International Children’s FundUNIDO United Nations Industrial Development OrganizationUNITAR United Nations Institute for Training and ResearchUS AID United States Agency for International DevelopmentWANO World Association of Nuclear Operators WBCSD World Business Council for Sustainable DevelopmentWFP World Food ProgrammeWHO World Health OrganizationWNA World Nuclear Association WSSD World Summit on Sustainable DevelopmentWWF Workers Welfare Fund WWF World Wildlife Fund for NatureYES Youth Engagement Services

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http://www.unesco.org/

List of Figures, Tables and Boxes

List of Figures

1.1 Pakistan: GDP Growth in the Present Century2.1 Pakistan: Trends in Crude Birth Rate, Crude Death Rate and Infant Mortality Rate2.2. Pakistan: Age Composition of Population 1998 – 2030

List of Tables

1.1 Pakistan: Budgetary Poverty Related Expenditures by Sector2.1 Pakistan: Designated Protected Areas2.2 Pakistan: Allocation of Funds for Environment &SD2.3 Pakistan: Some Examples of Assistance Received from UN for Sustainable Development 3.1 Pakistan: Cost of Environmental Degradation

List of Boxes

1.1 Green Economy and Pakistan1.2 Benazir Income Support Programme as a Social Safety Net2.2 Industry Contributions in Greening the Economy3.1 Challenge of Climate Change to Pakistan4.1 International Institutional Framework for Sustainable Development

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Executive Summary

Pakistan is fully committed to the implementation of the work program on sustainable development as identified in Agenda 21 and reaffirmed by the World Summit on Sustainable Development. The Government’s commitment to their implementation is evident in its policies and plans including the new Framework for Economic Growth approved in 2011, which provide an integrated agenda for promoting sustainable development in the country in all dimensions of Sustainable Development.

Economic Dimension

Pakistan's overall economic output or GDP has grown every year since UNCSD and even before that. Despite this record of sustained growth, Pakistan's economy had, until a few years ago, been characterized as unstable and highly vulnerable to external and internal shocks. However, the economy proved to be unexpectedly resilient in the face of multiple adverse events i.e. the Asian Financial crises 1997;economic sanctions after nuclear testing 1998; the global recession of 2001-2002; a worst drought in Pakistan's history, lasting about four years1998-2002; the post 9/11 military action in neighboring Afghanistan, with a massive influx of refugees from that country, serious earthquake that hit Pakistan in 2005 and one of the most severe floods in the history of Pakistan in 2010. Despite these adverse events, Pakistan's economy kept growing. This resilience has led to a change in perceptions of the economy, with leading international institutions such as the IMF, World Bank, and the ADB praising Pakistan's performance in the face of adversity.

Pakistan recently adopted a long term Framework for Economic Growth, which recognizes the severe resource constraint that the country faces and therefore focuses on ‘productivity’ in terms of improving the efficiency with which assets are used. It takes into account Global indicators such as ‘competitiveness’ and ‘cost of doing business’ and also highlights importance of factors such as ‘management’, ‘innovation’, ‘quality of regulation and governance’ and ‘research and development’, in promoting the growth. The thrust of this Framework or Strategy, therefore, is to focus on the ‘software’ of economic growth (issues of economic governance, institutions, incentives, human resources, etc.) so as to provide an enabling environment in which the hardware or physical infrastructure could be expanded and made more productive. The Framework besides advocating efficacy of economic growth is sustainable and climate resilient also focuses on the green growth through investment in low carbon technologies.

The green economy approach appears attractive to Pakistan, given its obvious emphasis on the protection and sustainable use of natural resources, protection of ecosystems, clean/renewable sources of energy, clean transport, etc. It also appears relevant to the country due to its total dependence on ecosystems for food, energy, jobs, livelihoods and exports. However, most stakeholders in Pakistan believe that excessive emphasis on green economy, often without a reference to sustainable development might engender suspicion in developing countries. They feel that the transition to green economy would critically depend on financial investments in infrastructure, technology and skills presently lacking in developing countries like Pakistan. They feel that it is imperative to

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have a consensus on the global context and imperatives of green economy; develop a global green economy clearing house, toolboxes and best practices guide; elaborate the policies and instruments of green economy; and ensure financial/technological commitments for supporting green economy in developing countries

Environmental Dimension

A major positive development in the environmental dimension after the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development at Rio was the issuance of the Pakistan Environmental Protection Act (PEPA) of 1997 that provided an umbrella for setting the general condition, while providing legal mechanisms for the control of pollution and the promotion of sustainable development. The Act defined and demarcated the powers and functions of environmental institutions including the legislative power of Pakistan Environmental Protection Council, the administrative power of Federal and Provincial Environmental Protection Agencies (EPAs) and judicial powers of Environmental Tribunals completing an integrated system of environmental institutions in Pakistan.

A number of policies and plans related to environment such as National Environment Policy, National Climate Change Policy, Biodiversity Action Plan, National Action Programme to Combat Desertification, National Sanitation Policy, National Energy Conservation Policy, and Poverty Reduction Strategy were also prepared which culminated in developing and finalizing the National Sustainable Development Strategy (NSDS) of Pakistan. NSDS has taken into account the existing environmental, economic and social policies and identified and integrated priorities highlighted therein and considers these as the important building blocks for its implementation. The main objective of NSDS of Pakistan is to put the country on a sustainable development path, the progress in which should be measured through improvements in the quality of life of its people rather than just economic growth.

Social Dimension

Under social dimension implementation of Millennium Development Goals, poverty alleviation, and social protection including security against natural and man-made hazards and calamities were the major areas of action. Implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) including the Poverty reduction is the centerpiece of social development efforts of the Government of Pakistan. The 18 global targets and 48 indicators adopted by 2000 Millennium Summit have been translated into 16 national targets and 37 indicators keeping in view Pakistan's specific conditions, priorities, data availability and institutional capacity.

Economic growth had a significant impact on reducing poverty in Pakistan though the redistributive effect was somewhat weaker. The analysis of results shows that if additional measures to improve the distribution of income had been taken, the decline in poverty would have been much larger. Therefore the new Framework for Economic Growth aims to make economic growth more inclusive and thereby speed up the movement out of poverty. Simultaneously, the government has developed effective and

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wide social safety nets. This is imperative because Pakistan's experience of substantial fluctuations in the GDP growth rate necessitates protecting the poor and the vulnerable. In order to combat effectively with the recurring natural calamites, the National Disaster Risk Management Framework has also been formulated to guide the work of entire system in the area. It has been developed through wide consultation with stakeholders from local, provincial and national levels.

Agenda 21 and JPoI: Sectoral Aspects

The country has also made substantial progress in the implementation of various aspects of Agenda 21 and JPoI including production and consumption, trade regime, imperatives of demographic dynamics, development of human settlements, and protection and promotion of human health. Towards conservation and management of natural resources, progress has been made in the management of land, forest, biodiversity and water as well as control of pollution and waste. Considerable focus has also been made on strengthening major groups such as youth, women, local authorities, NGOs, and business and industry. Under augmenting means of implementation, the efforts concentrated on institutional framework, financial resources, technology transfer, promoting education and public awareness as well as international cooperation.

Challenges and Constraints

All in all, despite limited resources, research base and technology; Pakistan, has made substantial progress in the implementation of outcome of Rio Summit and World Summit on Sustainable Development, held at Johannesburg in 2002. However, the country faces numerous challenges to sustainable development some of which are unique to Pakistan. These include war on terror, vulnerability to climate change and demographic challenge. The war on terror, which is being fought at Pakistan’s Western borders for the past few years, has had serious impact replacing ‘the development paradigm’ by ‘the security paradigm.’ It is officially estimated that the cost of the war between 2001 and 2010 has been over US$ 43 billion. The vulnerability to climate change particularly climate resulted hazards is another serious concern particularly due to increase in the occurrence of climate related hazards. The unprecedented flooding submerged one-fifth of the country affected more than 20 million people and caused a damage of about US $ 10 billion.The global recession has also hit Pakistan hard particularly in terms of foreign direct investment.

Future Imperatives

In order to enhance the mechanism of implementation of sustainable development Agenda particularly NSDS, there is a need to revamp the institutional structure, develop a framework of action or road map with the involvement, ownership and cooperation of all stakeholdersand tiers of Governments. It also demands financing for change, building institutional capacities, establishing means for providing incentives and accountability in implementation, putting appropriate legal and regulatory framework in place, promoting

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awareness and participation, empowering relevant stakeholders, and establishing an effective feedback mechanism through monitoring and reporting.

Last but not the least, implementation of sustainable development agenda cannot succeed in developing countries like Pakistan without developed countries meeting their commitments made at Rio - firstly to enhance flow of financial resources, secondly, to transfer environmentally sound technology at concessional terms and thirdly sharing of information and capacity building to promote sustainable development. The principle of ‘common but differentiated responsibilities’ invoked at Rio demands early fulfillment of these commitments by the international community. In revamping International Institution for Sustainable Development (IFSD), Pakistan supports the stance of G77and endorses the recommendations of the Beijing Symposium that the IFSD reform should enable them to help implement the new Agenda that comes out of UNCSD for the next twenty years.

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Chapter 1

Post-Rio Sustainable Development Scene

1.1 Introduction

Despite formidable challenges faced by the country, in the wake of war on terror, natural calamities and depleted resource crunch, Government of Pakistan is fully committed to the implementation of the work program on sustainable development as identified in Agenda 21 (United Nations, 1992) and reaffirmed by the World Summit on Sustainable Development (United Nations, 2002). The implementation of the Agenda on sustainable development at the national level is primarily the responsibility of governments, through national strategies, plans, policies and procedures. Pakistan’s commitment to implementation of Agenda 21 is obvious in its long-term perspective plan Vision 2030 (GoP, 2007) as well as medium term five-year plans and more recently in the new Growth Framework approved in 2011 (GoP, 2011a). All these plans provide integrated framework for promoting sustainable development in the country. This chapter examines Pakistan’s overall efforts towards attaining sustainable development through integrated planning and decision making.

1.2 Integrated planning and decision making

Economic planners in Pakistan, in early stages of development favoured a strategy termed as ‘pure growth’ with the hope of eventual ‘trickle down’. The later did not occur as expected or evidenced in the presence of poverty and inequality. Therefore the policies were amended, particularly after the Earth Summit to take into account the human wellbeing rather than economic growth alone. The amended stance also took into account integration of all dimensions of sustainable development – economic, environmental as well as social in formulating policies and strategies.

1.2.1 Economic Dimension

1.2.1.1 Economic Growth

Pakistan's average economic growth rate, although fluctuating has been higher than the average growth rate of the world economy in the Post-UNCED period. Average annual growth was 4.6 percent in the 1990s with the real GDP growth to an average of 4.9 percent in the first half, and 4.0 percent in the second half (GoP, 2003a). Since the turn of the century the economic growth has varied (Fig. 1.1). It remained depressed for the first two years (2000-02) of the new decade averaging 2.8 percent. Unprecedented drought and the events of 9/11 were responsible for keeping the growth low during 2000-02. Fiscal year 2002-03 exhibited a turnaround in growth at 4.7 percent. Growth performance for the next four years (2004-08) was striking - recording an average rate of 7.0 percent per annum (GoP, 2008).Since the beginning of 2008, however, Pakistan's economic outlook has taken a turn to stagnation.

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Fig. 1.1 Pakistan: GDP Growth in the Present Century

Source: GoP, 2011b

Security concerns stemming from the nation's role in the War on Terror have created great instability and led to a decline in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) from a height of approximately US $8 billion to $3.5 billion. The year 2008 – 09 saw a dismal growth of 1.2 percent, which improved in 2009-10, when the economy grew by estimated 4.1 percent. Although the macroeconomic context remains difficult in the near term, yet, the successful resolution of some critical challenges the economy faced in 2009‐10, such as the energy and water shortage, and a disturbed internal security situation could lay the basis for higher growth in future (GoP, 2010a).1.2.1.2 Resilience in Economic Growth:

Historically, Pakistan's overall economic output or GDP has grown every year since UNCED and even before that. Despite this record of sustained growth, Pakistan's economy had, until a few years ago, been characterized as unstable and highly vulnerable to external and internal shocks. However, In the face of multiple adverse events indicated below, the economy however proved to be unexpectedly resilient .

The Asian financial crises 1997; Economic sanctions after nuclear testing 1998 — according to Collin Powell,

Pakistan was "sanctioned to the eyeballs"; The global recession of 2001-2002; A severe drought — the worst in Pakistan's history, lasting about four years

1998-2002 The post 9/11 military action in neighboring Afghanistan, with a massive influx

of refugees from that country. A serious earthquake that hit Pakistan in 2005

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One of the most severe floods in the history of Pakistan in 2010

1.2.1.3 New Framework forEconomic Growth

Pakistan recently adopted a long term Framework for Economic Growth in May 2011 to promote sustainable economic growth and development in the country (GoP, 2011a). The framework was developed after extensive research and consultations with renowned Pakistani and international experts as well as the national and subnational stakeholders. Identifying, a coherent approach to growth, the strategy targets public service delivery, productivity, competitive markets, innovation and entrepreneurship (GoP,2011a).

1.2.1.3.1Focus on Efficiency of Production

The Framework recognizes the severe resource constraint that the country faces and therefore focuses on ‘productivity’ in terms of improving the efficiency with which assets are used. It takes into account Global indicators such as ‘competitiveness’ and ‘cost of doing business’ and also highlights importance of factors such as ‘management’, ‘innovation’, ‘quality of regulation and governance’ and ‘research and development’, in promoting the growth. The thrust of this Framework or Strategy, therefore, is to focus on the ‘software’ of economic growth (issues of economic governance, institutions, incentives, human resources, etc.) so as to provide an enabling environment in which the ‘hardware’ of growth (physical infrastructure) could be expanded and made more productive at every level.

1.2.1.3.2 Growth Drivers and Investment

The strategy (GoP, 2011a) underscores the significance of growth drivers such as entrepreneurship and innovation that could be greatly improved by reforming and strengthening institutions such as the civil service, legal and judicial framework, the taxation system etc. It also proposes measures, such as a reform of the restrictive zoning laws, which have impeded the growth of domestic commerce and hampered the role of cities as engines of economic growth.

It aims to increase investment in the country on the one hand and to make investment more productive on the other. The programmes identified in the strategy are likely to improve the investment climate, reduce the cost of doing business, increase the profitability of enterprises and encourage them to expand.

1.2.1.3.3 Implementation and Results Based Management

The new vision in growth strategy stresses upon implementation and result based management through:

Periodic identification of emerging constraints to economic growth by research and dialogue with all sectors and stakeholders

Consensus building by extensive consultations on the reforms and programmes that will be required for alleviating these constraints

Building a system for measuring productivity and public service delivery

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Development and monitoring of quantifiable plans regularly under the post-18th Constitutional Amendment milieu.

The Framework documentincludes Action Matrices, which not only specify timelines of implementation of objectives but also identify federal and provincial ministries/departments/statutory bodies that are to steer, guide and oversee the implementation process.

1.2.1.4 Green Economy

While the definition of green economy (GE) is still being debated at the global level (Box 1.1), its identified contours are believed to help in tackling the resource inefficiencies in Pakistan within the water, energy and agriculture sectors as well as in addressing the damaging trends of unregulated urbanization and rising unemployment.Moreover, the predicted and evident adverse impacts of climate change on food, water and energy security and the consequences of increase in frequency and intensity of natural disasters, has also made GE, an attractive model for making Pakistan a climate resilient economy.

The Framework for Economic Growth in its matrix on ‘Environment and Climate Change Sector’ supports green growth through investment in low-carbon technologies. The Framework also pledges allocation of “adequate financial and other resources for implementing the mitigation measures in the country’s Climate Change Policy and Action Plan.”

However, in order to make the concept of Green Economy politically more palatable as well as implicitly sustainable, it is essential that the concept get translated into possible green jobs that can be generated through a shift towards an alternate development path. Already, areas such as clean and efficient technology, renewable energy, chemical and waste management, biodiversity based business, and sustainable cities, green building construction, and transport are attracting investments globally and are emerging as the new engines of economic growth, while providing avenues for creating green jobs. There is a tremendous scope for such initiatives and creation of green jobs in Pakistan. One area where Pakistan has already achieved great success in creating green jobs is CNG industry.

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Box 1.1 Green Economy and Pakistan

“Green economy” does not have a universally agreed definition. UNEP defines “green economy” as one which “improves human well-being and social equity, while significantly reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities”. To others it means reduced emissions of GHG; economy-wide energy efficiency, renewable energy, circular economy, water conservation, sustainable agriculture and afforestation and reforestation. There are however, many misgivings about the motives behind the advocacy for green economy and doubts have been expressed on it as a panacea for the ills afflicting the world today. For example Martin Khor (South Centre) contends that in order to serve as a framework for sustainable development it has to be “derived from and rooted in the spirit, principles and operationality of the Rio Summit”. The Rio framework recognized that the crisis generated by climate change warranted reform of the global patterns of consumption and production, while adhering to the principles of sustainability and stressing upon the common but differentiated responsibilities.

Green economy, according to many has the potential to promote and realize innovation, spur support for green technology development and access, help building resource-efficient infrastructure and cities, create new jobs and protect ecosystems. In Pakistan the hydropower generation plans developed by WAPDA, industries endeavour towards cleaner production, the activities of the Energy Conservation Centre (ENERCON) and Alternative Energy Development Board towards energy conservation and development of alternate form of energy respectively represents efforts to promote green economy. These efforts would be further boosted by the climate change mitigation and adaptation plans being finalized in the context of addressing climate change-related challenges.

The green economy approach appears attractive, given its obvious emphasis on the protection and sustainable use of natural resources, protection of ecosystems, clean/renewable sources of energy, clean transport, etc. Green economy appears relevant to Pakistan due to the country’s total dependence on ecosystems for food, energy, jobs, livelihoods and exports. However, most stakeholders in Pakistan believe that excessive emphasis on green economy, often without a reference to sustainable development might engender suspicion in developing countries. They feel that the transition to green economy would critically depend on financial investments in infrastructure, technology and skills presently lacking in developing countries like Pakistan. They generally support the outcomes of the UNCSD on green economy and feel that it is imperative to:

Articulate a consensus on the global context and imperatives of green economy; what it means and what it does not mean

Develop a global green economy clearing house, toolboxes and best practices guide

Identify and/or elaborate the policies and instruments of green economy

Ensure financial/technological commitments for supporting green economy in devel-oping countries

Develop ten-year programme on Sustainable Consumption and Production to help ex-pedite the emergence of green economy

Enhance institutional mechanisms at regional and international levels to promote

1.2.2 Environmental Dimension

In terms of environmental dimension, Post Earth Summit period marks the beginning of an era in Pakistan during which the environmental institutions in the country matured, a number of policies were developed, environmental monitoring system was established, and an environmental management system was developed.

1.2.2.1 Institutional and Legislative Developments

A major positive development after the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development at Rio was the issuance of the Pakistan Environmental Protection Act (PEPA)of 1997 (GoP,1997), which superseded the Pakistan Environmental Protection Ordinance of 1983. It was a framework legislation that provided an umbrella for setting the general condition, while providing legal mechanisms forthe control of pollution and the promotion of sustainable development. The Act defined and demarcated the powers and functions of Pakistan Environmental Protection Council (PEPC),Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), provincial EPAs, and Environmental Tribunals. The establishment of PEPC with legislative power, Pakistan EPA and Provincial EPAs with administrative powers, and Environmental Tribunals with judicial powers completed an integrated system of environmental institutions in Pakistan.

The realization of the link between development and environment had already led to the creation of an Environment Section in the National Planning Commission in late eighties. The provincial planning departments also established corresponding environment sections later.These sections were made responsible for the environmental screening of public sector projects.

As a responsible member of the community of nations, Pakistan also ratified importantmultilateral environmental agreements/conventions including United Nations Convention on Biodiversity (UNCBD), United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC),United Nations Convention on Desertification (UNCCD), and Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) etc.Pakistan is also a party to Multilateral Environmental Agreements, such as agenda 21, Rio Principles and Johannesburg Plan of Implementation (JPoI). Pakistan has also prepared the National Implementation Plan for Persistent Organic Pollutants to ratify the Stockholm Convention and also committed itself to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as adopted by the UN Millennium Summit. It has also been made mandatory in all Public Sector Development Programmesto highlight the Initial Environment Examination and Environment Impact Assessment by the sponsoring Ministries/Organizations/ Departments.

1.2.2.2 Policies and Strategies

In terms of policies, an important feature was the adoption of the National Conservation Strategy (NCS) in 1992 (GoP& IUCN, 1992) as the guiding environmental policy for Pakistan. The turn of the century saw considerable progress in environmental policy

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making and planning in Pakistan. A number of sectoral and sub-sectoral policies/plans were also formulated including:

Biodiversity Action Plan of Pakistan 2000 National Action Programme to Combat Desertification in Pakistan 2002 Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper 2003 – Approved National Energy Conservation Policy 2006 – Approved National Sanitation Policy 2006 - Approved Pakistan Wetland Programme 2007 Energy Security Action Plan 2005 National Water Policy 2005 - Drafted National Drinking Water Policy 2009 – Approved National Climate Change Policy 2012 – Approved National Rangeland Policy – Drafted National Wetland Policy- Drafted National Forest Policy – Drafted National Disaster Risk Reduction Policy-Drafted 2012

As per the recommendation of Agenda 21 (United Nations, 1992) and Johannesburg Plan of Implementation (United Nations, 2002) Pakistan also finalized its National Sustainable Development Strategy (NSDS) with funding assistance fromthe United Nations Environment Programme (GoP&UNEP, 2009). NSDS has taken into account the existing sectoral policies (such as the Biodiversity Action Plan, Forestry Sector Master Plan,Health Policy, National Sanitation Policy and Social Action Plan) as well as inter-sectoral policies (such as Poverty Reduction Strategy, Energy Security Action Plan). Priorities in three dimensions of sustainable development - environmental, economic and social - have been highlighted in the Strategy. The NSDS document has identified more than a dozen strategies and policies that are important building blocks for NSDS implementation.The main objective of NSDS of Pakistan is to put the country on a sustainable development path,the progress in which should be measured through improvements in the quality of life of its people rather than just economic growth.

1.2.2.3 Response to Climate Change

Pakistan has been a responsible and active participant in the global negotiations right from the inception of the climate debate. As the chair of the G77 negotiating group in 1992 as well as 2007, Pakistan spearheaded consensus building on the basic founding principles of the UNFCCC as well as agreement on the four building blocks of climate change in Mitigation, Adaptation, Technology and Finance ‐ which have framed the debate ever since.

Pakistan acceded to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) as a Non Annex‐I Party in June 1994. The country, subsequently, adopted the Kyoto Protocol in 1997 and acceded to it on 11th January 2005. As a follow up to these international commitments, the country has undertaken climate related studies including the ALGAS study (ADB/GEF/UNDP, 1998), the UNEP (1998) country study on adaptation, the Initial National Communications on Climate Change (GoP, 2003b) and a high level report called the Task Force Report on Climate Change (GoP, 2010b). In

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addition, the Government in collaboration with UNFCCC commissioned a National Economic and Environmental Development Study (NEEDS), This study aimed to bring out some of the priority areas for possible climate mitigation while drawing out the probable future course of Pakistan’s growth and the costs associated with moving towards a low carbon development pathway. The study also gives strategic options for adaptation giving preliminary cost estimates for the same (GoP& UNFCCC, 2011). All these reports managed to create institutional and stakeholder awareness about the climate issue as well as build a strong constituency for formulation of a comprehensive national policy on climate change,which has been approved recently. It will be implemented through a targeted action plan. The country has also announced and implemented the CDM National Operational Strategy (GoP, 2006) as a signal for its entry into the global carbon market.

Besides, National Climate Change Policy approved recently, Pakistan’s international commitments regarding climate change has also been reflected in other national policies and plans such as the Pakistan: Framework for Economic Growth (GoP, 2011a) and Medium Term Development Plan 2010-2015 (under finalization), One UN programme on Environment (United Nations, 2009), National Environmental Policy (GoP, 2005a) as well as the National Energy Conservation Policy (GoP,2005b). These documents describe clearly how the government intends to honor its international commitments. The work is now commencing on the Action Plan based on national climate change policy. It would include development of adaptation and mitigation plans.

In terms of institutional development, the Cabinet Committee on Climate Change was formulated in 1995 to provide a policy coordination forum for dealing with climate change. This was later changed to the PrimeMinisters (PM) Committee on Climate Change in 2004, which also aimed for establishing a high level inter-ministerial linkage and proved to be extremely effective in initiating the country’s entry into the global carbon market. Ministry of Climate Change is the designated national focal point for UNFCCC and Kyoto Protocol. The Ministry has also been coordinating with other concerned agencies/institutions on various technical aspects, including; The National Energy Conservation Centre (ENERCON); Alternative Energy Development Board; and Pakistan Council of Renewable Energy Technologies.

1.2.3Social Dimension

Social dimension is another major aspect without which sustainable development is unthinkable. In the social arena, implementation of Millennium Development Goals, poverty alleviation, and social protection including security against natural and man-made hazards and calamities were the major areas of action.

1.2.3.1 Implementation of MDGs

Implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is the centerpiece of social development efforts of the Government of Pakistan. The 18 global targets and 48 indicators adopted by 2000 Millennium Summit have been translated into 16 national

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targets and 37 indicators keeping in view Pakistan's specific conditions, priorities, data availability and institutional capacity.

Specifically, the MDGs have been incorporated into the Government's two important macroeconomic frameworks including the New Growth Framework, which focuses on inclusive growth and increasing total factor productivity. The other is the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP), which is a framework for social and economic policies (GoP, 2003c). Earlier, government's key planning document on development - Medium Term Development Framework 2005-2010 (GoP, 2005c) also endorsed the MDGs. To date, however, sufficient progress has only been made on about half of the targeted indicators. The Secretary General of the United Nations during his visit to Pakistan appreciated Pakistan’s effort in implementing MDGs despite severe constraints. In his Key Note Address on Launching Ceremony of Pakistan MDG Report (GoP and United Nations 2010), he stated “The country is going through the most difficult phase in terms of the affects of: global economic recession; war on terror which is being fought at Pakistan’s Western borders; and floods of 2010 on the domestic economy. In spite of the unfavorable circumstances, a number of initiatives have been taken.” Drawing the attention for assistance to Pakistan in its endeavour towards implementing MDGs he added,“In addition to the efforts of the Government of Pakistan, the developed world is expected to fulfill its role by: allowing free access to the markets, transfer of new technologies; and providingfavourable terms of trade.”

1.2.3.2 Poverty Reduction Initiatives

Poverty could result from lack of productive resources to generate material wealth, or it could be manifested in lack of access to food, health, and education, prevalence of diseases. It could also emanate in the aftermath of natural calamities such as floods or drought, or man-made disasters such as strife and wars. Poverty in Pakistan is characterized by a large percentage of population that is classified as transitory poor. Irrespective of the nature “poverty in whatever form or shape”, does not belong in a civilized society and certainly not in Pakistan in the 21st century (GoP, 2007). The Government is therefore making consistent efforts to alleviate poverty in the county.

During 1992-93 to 2005-06 period, economic growth had a significant impact on reducing poverty in Pakistan though the redistributive effect was somewhat weaker (Cheema&Sial, 2010). The lesson is that if additional measures to improve the distribution of income had been taken, the decline in poverty would have been much larger. Therefore the new Framework for Economic Growth aims to make economic growth more inclusive and thereby speed up the movement out of poverty.Simultaneously; the government has developed effective and wide social safety nets. This is imperative because Pakistan's experience of substantial fluctuations in the GDP growth rate necessitates protecting the poor and the vulnerable.

In the post UNCED period, a major effortat reducing poverty was initiated through the adoption of a strategy in November 2000. The strategy was articulated in the Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (IPRSP) that provided an integrated focus on a diverse set of factors that impact on poverty and other development outcomes. The core elements

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of the IPRSP were to engender growth, improve human development and governance and reduce the vulnerability of the poor to shocks. Recognizing that poverty is a complex and multidimensional phenomenon that extends beyond the notion of income and encompasses social, economic and political exclusion, the full Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSPI) was prepared to provide an integrated approach to diverse set of factors that influence poverty in Pakistan (GoP, 2003c) The Paper provided focused strategy for poverty reduction based on four pillars - accelerated and broad-based economic growth while maintaining macroeconomic stability, improving governance and consolidating devolution, investing in human capital, and targeted programs with emphasis on social inclusion. The strategy (GoP, 2003c) recognized that (i) to reduce poverty, economic growth must emanate from sectors that have greater potential to generate employment (ii) additional income alone would not eliminate poverty unless the causes of poverty are addressed. Hence the need to improve access to basic needs such as primary education, primary health care, drinking water, access to justice, in order to win the fight against poverty. (iii)a strong program would be needed for monitoring and capacity development, as well as impact assessment.

The revised national Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP-II) covered the three-year period 2008-09 – 2010-11.While also providing a framework for thinking well beyond this time frame; it was an approach to a long-term national economic strategy that had its main focus on reduction of poverty. This second generation Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP)-II (GoP, 2009) had an aim to reduce poverty by regaining macroeconomic stability. The Strategy wasbuilt upon nine pillars ( i ) Macroeconomic Stability and Real Sector Growth; (ii) Protecting the Poor and the Vulnerable; (iii) Increasing Productivity and Value Addition in Agriculture; (iv) Integrated Energy Development programme (v) Making Industry Internationally Competitive; (vi) Human Development for the 21st Century; (vii) Removing Infrastructure Bottlenecks through Public Private Partnerships; (viii) Capital and Finance for Development; and (ix) Governance for a Just and Fair System.

The government has also put in place a stringent results-based system to monitor and evaluate the implementation of the Poverty Reduction Strategy. Since the initiation of PRSP-I in 2001, the pro-poor expenditures have been regularly reported. The figures for the last few years (Table 1.1) show that total pro-poor expenditure remained at1110.7 billion rupees during 2009-2010, accounting for about 7.57% of the GDP.This is in line with the Fiscal Responsibility and Debt Limitation Act, 2005, which stipulates that social sectors expenditure should not be less than 4.5% of the GDP in any financial year. The expenditures enhanced substantially in the financial year 2009–2010 as compared with the financial year 2008–2009 (GoP2011b).

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Table 1.1Pakistan: Budgetary Poverty Related Expenditures by Sector

1.2.3.3 Social Safety Nets

Social safety nets are provided by the public sector (the State and aid donors) as well as the private sector (NGOs, private firms, charities, and informal household transfers). The Social safety nets for the vulnerable currently available in public sector in Pakistan include Workers Welfare Fund (WWF), Food Support Program, Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal (PBM), Zakat Fund and Benazir Income Support Programme (Details on individual programmes are available in Pakistan Economic Surveys 2011 in the chapter on Poverty).Under the various public sectorprogrammes safety net transfers include:

Cash transfers Food-based programs In-kind transfers such as school supplies Conditional cash transfers Price subsidies for food or electricity Fee waivers and insurance for health care

Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) introduced in 2008 is the most important programme of social safety net (Box 1.2).

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1.1.3.4 Protection from Natural and Man Made Calamities

Pakistan is vulnerable to disaster risks from a range of hazards including avalanches, cyclones/storms, droughts, earthquakes, epidemics, floods, glacial lake outbursts, landslides, pest attacks, river erosion, landslides, and tsunamis. High priority hazards in terms of their frequency are earthquakes, droughts, flooding, windstorms and landslides that have caused widespread damages and losses in the past (NDMA, 2007).

Natural disasters threaten sustained economic growth by causing physical and monetary damages and social shocks.In the wake of too many natural disasters striking the country, the Government of Pakistan has embarked upon establishing appropriate policy, legal and institutional arrangements to mitigate their impacts. It has also been implementing strategies and programmes to minimize risks and vulnerabilities. In this regard, National Disaster Management Ordinance was issued in 2006 which was passed as an Act of Parliament in December 2010. The National Disaster Management Commission is in place, which would ensure the implementation of the Act. The National Disaster Management Authority has also been established under this Act. Provincial Disaster Management Authorities (Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Gilgit Baltistan),

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Box 1.2 Benazir Income Support Programme as a Social Safety Net

This is a cash transfer program to the vulnerable identified on the basis of a poverty scorecard. The program, backed by an exit strategy, of imparting training to one member of each vulnerable family to sustain it, also envisages a workfare initiative through social mobilization. Although BISP was launched for emergency relief, it is to continue as a medium-term program of the safety net. The Program envisages cash grants of Rs 1,000 every month to the females of each qualifying household having a monthly income of less than Rs 6,000 through banks/post offices with the aim to ameliorate the conditions of the poorest of the poor by directly accessing them and supplementing their sources of income. In the short to medium term BISP will also serve as a platform for complementary social assistance program, the main being health insurance for the poor and the vulnerable. An amount of Rs 15.3 billion was disbursed during 2008-09 that increased to Rs 32 billion in 2009-10. During first nine months of 2010-11, Rs 20.3 billion has been disbursed to 2.81 million beneficiaries (GoP, 2012).

BISP is attempting to meet several needs. First, it is based on cash transfers to help in smoothening household consumption and investing in human capital. Second, objective and transparent social safety nets have a positive impact on social cohesion. Third, the presence of an effective and targeted social safety net allows the government to avoid suboptimal economic policies (for example price subsidies) that interfere with the functioning of the markets; this is especially important in the power and agriculture sectors. Finally, social safety nets, such as cash transfers, community grants, or public works, help revitalize crisis-affected communities by filling in deficiencies in demand and kick-starting markets that may have shrunk or even closed down.

State Disaster Management Authority AJ&K, and FATA Disaster Management Authority have also been established. Most of the District Disaster Management Authorities are also in place. The National Disaster Risk Management Framework was formulated in March 2007 to guide the work of entire system in the area of disaster risk management based on the guiding principles of the Hyogo Framework for Action. It has been developed through wide consultation with stakeholders from local, provincial and national levels. The principles established in the Framework are:

Promoting multi-stakeholder, multi-sectoral and multi-disciplinary approaches,

Reducing vulnerability of most vulnerable social groups,

Strengthening community and local level risk reduction capacities,

Combining scientific and people’s knowledge,

Developing culturally, socially, economically and environmentally relevanttechnologies,

Strengthening sustainable livelihood practices,

Acquiring specific capacities in view of the hazard-risk profile of the area in the country

Working with other countries, and the international community to promote disasterrisk reduction.

In order to holistically manage the disasters on a countrywidebasis, NDMA has drafted a ten year National Disaster ManagementPlan (2012-2022), which will replace the National Disaster RiskManagement Framework. The Plan with overall investment of aboutUS $ one billion having short, medium and long term interventions, inter alia comprises:

i. 10-Year Disaster Management Plan,

ii. Multi-hazard Early Warning System Plan,

iii. Human Resources Capacity Building Plan and

iv. Instructor’s Manual and Guidelines on Community Based Disaster R Risk Management.

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References

1. ADB/GEF/UNDP, 1998, Asia Least-Cost Greenhouse Gas Abatement Strategy (ALGAS)-Pakistan. Manila, Philippines. Asian Development Bank, Global Environment Facility, United Nations Development Program. October.

2. Cheema AR and MH Sial, 2010, ‘Estimating the Contributions of Growth And Redistribution to Changes in Poverty in Pakistan’, Pakistan Economic and Social Review, vol. 48, no. 2, pp. 279-306

3. Crosse, G. "Weather risk hedging seen boosting global economy".Theusdaily.com. http://theusdaily.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=498202&type=home.

4. GoP Government of Pakistan, 2012, Annual Development Plan, Planning Commission, Islamabad

5. GoP Government of Pakistan, 2011a, Pakistan Framework for Economic Growth, Planning Commission, Islamabad

6. GoP Government of Pakistan, 2011b, Pakistan Economic Survey 2010-11, Ministry of Finance, Economic Advisor Wing, Islamabad

7. GoPGovernment of Pakistan, 2010a, Pakistan Economic Survey 2009-10, Ministry of Finance, Economic Advisor Wing, Islamabad

8. GoPGovernment of Pakistan, 2010b, Final Report of the Task Force on Climate Change, Planning Commission, Islamabad

9. GoP Government of Pakistan, 2009, Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper II, Ministry of Finance, Islamabad.

10. GoPGovernment of Pakistan, 2008, Pakistan Economic Survey 2007-8, Ministry of Finance, Economic Advisor Wing, Islamabad

11. GoPGovernment of Pakistan 2007, Vision 2030, Planning Commission, Islamabad

12. GoP Government of Pakistan, 2006, Clean Development Mechanism: National Operational Strategy, Ministry of Environment,Islamabad.

13. GoPGovernment of Pakistan, 2005a, National Environmental Policy, Ministry of Environment, Islamabad

14. GoPGovernment of Pakistan, 2005b, National Energy Conservation Policy, Islamabad

15. GoP Government of Pakistan, 2005c, Medium Term Development Framework (MTDF 2005-2010), Planning Commission, Islamabad.

16. GoPGovernment of Pakistan, 2003a, Pakistan Economic Survey 2002-3, Ministry of Finance, Economic Advisor Wing, Islamabad

17. GoP(Government of Pakistan), 2003b, Pakistan's Initial National Communication on Climate Change, Ministry of Environment, Islamabad.

18. GoP Government of Pakistan, 2003c, Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, Ministry of Finance, Islamabad.

19. GoP Government of Pakistan, 2002, National Action Plan to Combat Desertification, Ministry of Environment, Islamabad

20. GoPGovernment of Pakistan, 1997, Gazette Notification, Pakistan Environmental Protection Act, Islamabad

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21. Government of Pakistan and UNFCCC, 2011, National Economic and Environmental Development Study (NEEDS), unfccc.int/files/adaptation/application/pdf/pakistanneeds.pdf

22. Government of Pakistan and United Nations, 2010 Pakistan Millennium Development Goals Report, Islamabad

23. Government of Pakistan and UNEP, 2009, National Sustainable Development Strategy of Pakistan, Islamabad

24. Government of Pakistan, IUCN and WWF (2000), Biodiversity Action Plan for Pakistan, Rawalpindi.

25. Government of Pakistan and UNEP 1998: Study on Climatic Change Impact Assessment and Adaptation Strategies Study for Pakistan, Islamabad.

26. Government of Pakistan and IUCN (1992), National Conservation Strategy, Karachi.

27. National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), 2007. National Disaster Risk Management Framework Pakistan, March, Islamabad.

28. Posted by Stacy-Marie Ishmael on Aug 26 15:59. (2008-08-26). "FT Alphaville » Save the economy – hedge the weather". Ftalphaville.ft.com. http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2008/08/26/15357/save-the-economy-hedge-the-weather. Retrieved 2010-07-29.

29. United Nations, 2009, Delivery as One: One Programme Document 2008 – 2010, Islamabad, Pakistan.

30. United Nations, 2002, Johannesburg Plan of Implementation, The Outcome of United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, Department of Economic and Social Development, New York

31. United Nations, 1992, Agenda 21, The Outcome of United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, New York

Chapter 2

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http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2008/08/26/15357/save-the-economy-hedge-the-weather.%20Retrieved%202010-07-29

http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2008/08/26/15357/save-the-economy-hedge-the-weather.%20Retrieved%202010-07-29

Implementation of Agenda 21 and JPoI

2.1 Introduction

Pakistan has made considerable progress in promoting sustainable development through integration of economic, environmental and social dimensions of sustainable development as highlighted in the first chapter of this report. This chapter, more specifically traces progress made in specific areas as outlined in various chapters of Agenda 21 and Johannesburg Plan of Implementation. In respect of sectoral aspects of economic and social dimensions it covers production and consumption, trade regime, demographic dynamics, development of human settlements, and protection and promotion of human health. Towards conservation and management of natural resources, it concentrates on management of land, forest, biodiversity, water and control of pollution and waste. In strengthening major groups it focuses upon youth, women, local authorities, NGOs, and business and industry. Under augmenting means of implementation, it highlights institutional framework, financial resources, technology transfer, promoting education and public awareness as well as international cooperation.

2.2 Sectoral Aspects of Economic and Social Dimension

2.2.1 Production and Consumption

Pakistan’s efforts in this arena are concentrated towards conservation of resources and minimizing waste. The Economic Framework of growth (GoP, 2011a) and National Environmental Policy (GoP, 2005) specifically identify areas such as agriculture, transport and industry where there is a vast potential for improvement. During the last decades Pakistan has formulated and implemented projects in all these areas. In agricultural sector, for example, efforts have been concentrated on promoting water efficiency. Projects have also been initiated for creating awareness among the farming communities for using more efficient tractors, thrashers, water pumps etc. (GoP, 2011b).

In transport sector, which is a major user of fossil fuels a nationwide programme of engine tune up, use of compressed natural gas (CNG) and introduction of clean fuel has helped in the conservation of energy and control of emissions. In terms of cleaner fuel already 2.5 million vehicles have been using CNG (GoP, 2011b), the largest fleet in any country of the world. Further, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources eliminated Lead from Petrol, reduced sulphur in high speed diesel (HSD) from 1.0 % by weight to 0.5 % and in fuel oil from 3.5 to 2 % (GoP, 2011b). The Ministry also introduced catalytic converters for all new cars, restricted import of vehicles without catalytic converters, and imposed restriction on 2-stroke engine technology (rickshaw, motor cycles etc.) for fitting catalytic converters. The improvement in fuel quality will be further addressed by modification of configuration of existing oil refineries, setting up of new refineries with latest technology and import of low sulphur and fuel oil.

In consultation with Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources, Engineering Development Board, Pakistan Automobile Manufactures Associations and other stakeholders, the Ministry of Environment (now Ministry of Climate Change) decided

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that (i) all petrol driven vehicles imported or manufactured locally will comply with Euro-II emission standards. Existing models if not complying with Euro-II emission standards will have to switch over to Euro-II models by no later than three years, if not immediately: (ii) all diesel driven vehicles imported or manufactured locally will comply with Euro-II emission standards with effect from July, 2012. The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources is to ensure availability of Euro-II compliant diesel (sulphur contents 0.05 percent) with effect from January 2012 (GoP, 2011b).

Among industries textile processing, leather, sugar, pulp & paper, fertilizer, and pharmaceutical sectors have taken the lead in cleaner production (Box 2.2). Major environmental initiatives taken by these in cleaner production were in the areas of energy efficiency, ISO 14001 certification and wastewater treatment. All Pakistan Textile Processing Mills Association (APTPMA) has been active in the field since 1996. 1n total about 150 textile processing mills have implemented cleaner production and energy efficiency measures. The value of environmental investments at present prices is estimated to be about Rs. 1,250 millions. Out of the total investment about Rs. 1,000 million were invested in wastewater treatment plants and balance Rs. 250 million were invested in cleaner production and energy efficiency measures (Khan, 2010).

Pakistan Tanners Association (PTA) started its environmental management journey in 1992. More than 100 tanneries have implemented cleaner production and energy efficiency measures. Implementation of cleaner production measures at the tannery level have resulted in 15-20% pollution load reduction, 20-25% reduction in water consumption, 20-30% reduction in chrome consumption, and 20-30% reduction in ammonium sulphate consumption. Likewise implementation measures for energy efficiency in the industry have resulted in reduction of 3,000 tons of CO2emissions per year. Estimated total environmental investment made by the tanning industry so far has been about Rs. 1,400 million. PTA performance can be ranked as the best performance among the industrial sector in the country (Khan, 2010).

Sugar sector is implementing environmental projects since 1996. About half of the sugar mills in the country have installed oxidation ponds for the treatment of wastewater with the treatment efficiency of 40-50%. There are about 23 distilleries in the country, which have installed an-aerobic treatment plants for biogas recovery. These plants reduce about 70% BOD and COD pollution loadings of the wastewater. Total environmental investment made by sugar mills and distilleries have been about Rs. 960 million. Out of the total investment about Rs. 500 million were invested on lagoons or oxidation ponds, 300 million in biogas digesters, and about Rs. 160 million in cleaner production and energy efficiency measures (Khan, 2010).

Pakistan Pulp, Paper and Board Mills Association (PPPBMA), is the leading Industrial Association (IA) representing the paper and paperboard-manufacturing units in Pakistan. At the mill level, cleaner production resulted in reduction of 40-50% pollution loading through fiber recovery. Recovered fiber is either reused in the process or it is sold to outside contractors for making low grade board. Cleaner production also helped in the elimination of Chlorine emission from the process. Implementation of energy efficiency

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measures resulted in power improvement factor from 0.8 to 0.96, 5% reduction in electricity and fuel consumption. Paper mills have invested more than Rs. 140 million as environmental investment. It is roughly estimated that Rs. 75 million were investment for the primary treatment of wastewater, and Rs. 65 million were invested on the implementation of cleaner production and energy efficiency measures (Khan, 2010).

Most of the multinational pharmaceutical companies have secured ISO 14001 certification. It is roughly estimated that in total pharmaceutical sector has made environmental investments of about Rs. 710 million. Out of this Rs. 570 million were invested for wastewater treatment plants, and the balance Rs. 140 million were allocated to cleaner production, energy efficiency, and in-house incineration facilities. All the fertilizer units are ISO 14001 certified. It is estimated that in total fertilizer sector has invested about Rs. 1,500 million (Khan, 2010).

2.2.2 Trade Regime

Pakistan promotes liberalization of trade and investment regime as a critical ingredient

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Box 2.2 Industry Contributions in Greening the Economy

Main drivers behind industry contributions for greening the economy of Pakistan are economic sense of environmental investments, maintaining business competiveness, and social pressure from the communities for environmental compliance. Major barriers faced by the industry for environmental compliance are lack of capital and less attractive or non-existence of environmental fiscal reforms and incentives to the firms.

Industry in tangible terms started implementation of environmental solutions in early nineties after the protest of civil society representatives against the hazardous environmental conditions in Kasur owing to tanneries operations. Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is the leading bilateral funding agency for financing the industry-environment projects in Pakistan. Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), Pakistan Tanners Association, All Pakistan Textile Processing Mills Association, Pakistan Sugar Mills Association, and Pakistan Pulp, Paper, and Board Mills Association are the main industry institutions those implemented environmental improvement projects in the last ten years. Performance of PTA is by far the most effective among the industry sectors. These implemented large number of cleaner production and energy efficiency measures in the respective industry sectors. Owing to successful implementation of these projects and programs, cleaner production and energy efficiency disciplines are well established in the industry sector of Pakistan. Implementation of wastewater treatment plants, Environmental Management System, and Corporate Social Responsibility remain the function of large exporting and progressive industrial units.

In the last five years Government of Punjab established PIEDMC and FIEDMC for the development and management of existing and new industrial estates. Government of Sindh recently established KATI Limited on the same lines. National Industrial Parks is the initiative of Ministry of Industry (MOI). These companies have committed to implement complete environmental management plan and construction of complete environmental infrastructure proposed under their EIAs. Three industrial estates of Pakistan with the technical assistance of Dutch funded programme “Programme for Industrial Sustainable Development” are in the process of formulating and implementing Sustainability Framework for Industrial Estates.

for sustained economic growth that in turn creates jobs, and raises productivity and wages. The growth strategy recommends a) establishment of the unilateral trade liberalization program, b) immediate abolition of any existing system of distortive regulatory duties (SROs) that interfere with the tariff structure, c) maintain, de minimis, a neutral real exchange rate policy, d) abolition of the ad-hoc system of quasi-import licensing e) thorough review of the economic justification for sectors/industries benefiting from above normal protection and/or subsidies, export subsidies, export taxes, and anti-dumping practices, and f) bringing all economic policies including industrial and trade policies in line with the intentions defined in the Framework of Economic Growth (GoP, 2011a).

2.2.3 Demographic Dynamics

Crude birth rate (CBR), and Crude death rate (CDR) are the two most important indicators of population trend. These show the growth and decline of a population per thousand births while Infant mortality rate (IMR) or the infant death rate is the number of deaths that occur in the first year of life for 1000 live births. All these indicators in Pakistan have improved if we see the pattern (GoP, 2010). CBR declined by 20.32%, CDR by 12.79% and IMR by 17.73% taking the time period from 1999‐2009 (Fig. 2.1).

Fig. 2.1 Pakistan: Trends in Crude Birth Rate, Crude Death Rate and Infant Mortality Rate

The population of the country is projected to reach over 350 million by 2050. It is not just the size but also its age structure that is important. The number of those aged 0–14 years will start to stagnate after 2035 (due to fertility decline), but the number of the working age group (15–64 years) and the elderly (65 and above) will continue to increase (population echo /momentum). It is the increasing numbers in the working age group (Fig. 2.2) that provides an economic opportunity for the country.

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Fig. 2.2. Pakistan: Age Composition of Population 1998 – 2030

Due to the increasing proportion of the population in the working age group, the dependency ratio will continue to decrease, and is projected to reach its lowest point in the 2030s. The dependency ratio is expected to again show an increasing trend by 2050, because of an increase in the old dependency ratio. The demographic changes leading to a lowered dependency ratio offer the potential of a ‘demographic dividend.’ It is basically an opportunity provided by the changing age structure when the growth rate of the labour force is higher than the growth rate of the total population. The Government policy is to reap maximum advantage from the demographic dividend.

2.2.4 Development of Human Settlements

In the development of human settlements the Government’s effort is to attract and manage resources with optimal use of land; build infrastructure (roads, schools, hospitals, sewerage lines, water and utilities); provide efficient delivery of services (health, education, sanitation, etc.) and improve governance through coordination across various levels of government. Moreover, it is ensuring that the new Framework for Economic Growth (GoP, 2011a) does not affect the pristine environment and areas of important historical and ecological values. Finally, attention is being given to implement MDG targets including improvement in the lives of slum dwellers (inhabitants of Katchi Abadis or squatter settlements in Pakistan), many of which have already been regularized, increasing the water supply and sanitation coverage, and improving the human health.

It is also increasingly being realized that enhancing social capital in human settlements particularly cities is imperative for the development of productivity and many other outcomes for growth. Hence the new Framework of Economic Growth stresses on the development of more community space in cities by allowing room for libraries, museums, science centres, community centres and parks for under-privileged communities. This has to be done in the context of developing density, high-rise and mixed use. There is also an emphasis on the integration of heritage conservation into cities / towns planning and development process.

2.2.5 Protecting and Promoting Human Health

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Pakistan has seen relative improvement within South Asian region in terms of health indicators. The country ranks 125th in the Human Development Index with a maternal mortality of 276, infant mortality of 72 and skilled Birth Attendance at 39 per cent. There is a persistent increase in incidence of non-communicable diseases. The maternal malnutrition is estimated at 26 per cent and is resulting in Low Birth Weight Babies (LBW) (GoP, 2011a).

Some of the reasons for low health indicators, as assessed by the new Framework of Economic Growth are institutional capacity constraints for proper implementation of policies; monitoring and evaluation; result-based management; governance; socio-economic disparities etc. Pakistan’s MDGs Report (UNDP, 2010) indicates that health related targets would be difficult to be achieved by 2015.

The Framework for Economic Growth (GoP, 2011a) envisages the following major elements as a response to the challenge of improving health and nutrition outcomes.

Revamping/management of primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare: The pre- hospital/emergency care and health interventions in catchment areas are to be strengthened through scale up of Rescue 1122 and linked with programs in catchment areas of primary care facilities.

Governance reforms in Health Sector: Intervention to be initiated in terms of building partnerships, aid effectiveness, career structures, capacity building, accountability, quality and access to medicine etc.

Food Safety and Security: During short term (one year), a minimum dietary requirements package to be prepared and promoted through print and electronic media. Micronutrient and fortification methods are also to be promoted.

Mass Awareness: Mass awareness campaign through print and electronic media to be initiated for behavioural change communication with regard to nutritious dietary habits.

2.3 Conservation and Management of Resources for Development

Pakistan’s economy is very much dependent on its resources such as land, water, forest, and biodiversity. Therefore, the country is making efforts to protect the overexploitation of these resources on the one hand and to protect its terrestrial, aquatic and atmospheric ecosystems from various sources of pollution on the other.

2.3.1 Planning and Management of Land Resources

Sustainable land management (SLM) is a viable option to combat land degradation and desertification. Federal and Provincial Governments in Pakistan are integrating SLM principles into sectoral policies, strategies and plans, as land degradation adversely affects natural resource based livelihood of the rural poor. Federal Government is to support provincial governments to combat desertification as recommended under Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (GoP, 2003), National Action Programme (NAP) to Combat Desertification (GoP, 2002) and aligning Pakistan’s NAP with 10‐Year Strategic Plan of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). According to

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National Forest Policy, National Desertification Control Fund as envisaged under NAP and UNCCD shall be established to ensure continued financial sustainability for SLM interventions at grass root level. Appropriate incentives are being designed to enlist the participation of local communities in SLM.

The watershed and soil conservation programs have also been undertaken in the catchments of large dams, especially Tarbela and Mangla, which have substantially reduced loss of soil through water erosion and improved the natural habitats. The watershed management is also carried out where small and mini dams have been developed in mountainous and sub-mountainous environments, which also helped to recharge groundwater and provide water for wildlife and the migratory birds (GoP, 2009b).

A GEF project on Sustainable Land Management (SLM) to Combat Desertification in Pakistan is also being implemented. The overall goal of the project is to combat land degradation and desertification in Pakistan. The aim is to reduce poverty through protecting and restoring the ecosystem and essential ecosystem services. The project is to be implemented in two phases, with the first phase focused on creating an enabling environment for SLM and piloting innovation. The second phase based on lessons learnt would enhance the policy and institutional commitment to SLM and implement demonstration projects for replication. The immediate objective is to strengthen institutional capacity, create an enabling environment, and demonstrate good practices in an effort to help remove key barriers to SLM.

2.3.2 Enhancement of Forest Cover

In the Forestry Sector, Pakistan is committed to increase forest cover from about 5% in 2010 to 6% by the year 2015. An increase of one percent implies that an additional 1.051 million hectares area has to be brought under forest cover by 2015. This will include all state lands, communal lands, farmlands, private lands and municipal lands. Pakistan set a new Guinness World Record in maximum tree planting during 24 hours on July 15, 2009; three hundred planters from the local communities planted 541,176 propagules of mangrove trees on 796 acres on an island at Keti Bundar in the Indus Delta. The country has also declared 18th August as National Tree Planting Day (NTPD). The objective is to address deforestation and associated environmental problems being faced by the nation through motivation and involvement of all segments of the society in tree plantation campaigns.

Pakistan’s Draft National Forest Policy provides a broad framework for addressing issues of forests and renewable natural resources and their sustainable development for the maintenance and rehabilitation of environment and enhancement of sustainable livelihoods (GoP, 2010b). The Policy gives broad guidelines to the Federal Government, Provincial Governments, Federally Administered Tribal Areas and Local Governments for ensuring the sustainable management of their forests and renewable natural resources. A Federal Forestry Board comprising the representatives of the Provincial Forest Departments, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), NGO’s progressive gamers and other stakeholders, has been established to develop policies and strategies related to the

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Forestry Sector and also monitor the activities of the Provincial Forest Departments including the forest cover. The National Environment Policy (GoP 2005) also calls for sustainable management of natural forests of Pakistan and increase tree cover for safeguarding economic growth and food security in the country.

2.3.3 Conservation of Biodiversity:

Pakistan has designated 23 national parks, 97 game sanctuaries and 104 game reserves covering 9,852,006 hectares of land as Protected Area (PA). Most of the ecological regions are adequately represented in the protected areas network in Pakistan and are thus being effectively conserved. A review of the PA system was carried out in 2000 and an Action Plan was prepared. The Action Plan included elements for filling ecological gaps, securing financial resources, capacity building, and addressing policy, legislative and institutional barriers. Progress has been made in achieving partial targets such as filling ecological gaps, capacity building, addressing policy, legislative and institutional barriers and to some extent in securing financial resources (GoP, 2009b).

There has been a significant increase in the extent of PAs. They covered 9.01 million hectares in 1997, which increased to 9.852 million hectares at present. National Parks constitute the most important and prominent category of PAs. In 1997, there were 12 national parks while today their number stands at 23.

Although, there are no national targets for protection of important areas of biodiversity, a few hot spots that were not covered in the PA system or were not being effectively protected are now receiving attention. The prominent among these include Conservation of Endemic Reptiles in Chagai desert; Conservation of Juniper Forest Ecosystems; Conservation of Chilghoza Pine Forest Ecosystem: and Conservation of Brown and Black Bear (GoP, 2009b).

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has made significant impact on conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in Pakistan. The impact of the convention is visible in the following positive changes:

Conservation was seen as a responsibility of the government alone but now public and private sector partnerships (local communities, NGOs and corporate sector) are emerging for conservation of biodiversity and environmental rehabilitation.

The local people were considered as a part of the problem, but now they are being made part of the solution. The capacity of local organizations is being strengthened not only to conserve and make sustainable use of their natural resources, but also to join hands with the government and NGOs for management of the protected areas and community conservation areas.

The biodiversity considerations have been integrated in the guidelines for environmental impact assessments and proper safeguards are made during the implementation of infrastructure projects to protect important elements of biodiversity.

Historically, establishment of protected areas were seen as a sufficient measure to

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conserve species, habitats and ecosystems. The canvass of biodiversity conservation has now been expanded to include the land- and seascape.

The high yielding varieties of crops, fruit trees, poultry and livestock were seen as the only way forward to meet the growing demand for food. The importance of the need to conserve the genetic diversity is now being increasingly realized and measure being taken for its conservation.

Exotic species of flora and fauna were being indiscriminately introduced in the natural habitats. The convention has played an important role in raising awareness about the threats of invasive alien species and introduction of alien species is now being strictly regulated.

Financial resource allocations for biodiversity, both national and international, and international cooperation has increased after the adoption of the convention

The country has made good progress on 2010 biodiversity targets despite the lack of institutional, human and financial resources (GoP 2009b). It has now reached the basic threshold level and ready to make up for the slow progress in the past.

2.3.4 Biotechnology

A National Bio-safety Expert Committee (NBEC) has been established in the Ministry of Climate Change to oversee and monitor the activities on biotechnology. National Bio-safety Guidelines in genetic Engineering and Biotechnology has also been prepared after the broad based consultations.

2.3.5 Sustainable Mountain Development

Mountain Ecosystems in Pakistan have valuable resources such as forests, alpine pastures and glaciers. These are of immense watershed value for dams and irrigation systems. Government of Pakistan is implementing a large number of projects in the mountainous areas in collaboration with the local communities for the conservation and use of these resources in a sustainable manner. The Mountain Areas Conservancy Project is one of the most important one, being implemented by IUCN, UNDP, WWF, WFP and German assistance. Pakistan is also a signatory to some of the International Conventions like the Convention on Biological Diversity, which has a big stake in the mountain eco-systems of the country. Government of Pakistan is sensitive to the issue of conservation of Biological Diversity in the mountain eco-systems and has prepared a Biodiversity Action Plan (GoP, IUCN, WWF, 2000), which discusses the present status, and the actions that have so far been undertaken to preserve biodiversity in Pakistan.

2.3.6 Fresh Water Resources

Among resources, the most dramatic rise in demand is for fresh water. The demand for safe drinking water is anticipated to increase enormously in the coming years in the wake of growing population. Although agriculture will continue to be the largest consumer of water, the fastest increase in water demand will occur in the urban and industrial sectors, where water use is projected to double over the next 30 years (GoP, 2007). Demand of water for other uses is also increasing rapidly, whereas the country has crossed water

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stress mark.

Increasing storage capacity is an important part of the water strategy, It is planned to increase storage capacity by 18 MAF (6 MAF for replacement of storage lost to silting/sedimentation, and 12 MAF of new storage) in order to meet the projected requirements of 13.4 MAF. The large storages will be complemented by a number of small dams and other measures for recharging underground reservoirs.

2.3.7 Agriculture and Rural Development

Bulk of Pakistan’s population still lives in rural areas, where agriculture is the mainstay of population. Agriculture is the second largest sector of economy, which contributes to over 21 percent of GDP, employs 45 percent of the total labour force and provides commodities that are the major source of export earnings. Low productivity and yields in agriculture limit the growth of crop sector. Research shows that the large productivity gap is explained by factors such as traditional farming practices, inefficient irrigation methods, high input costs, lack of bio-safety regulations and insufficient institutional credit for poor farmers. Given the substantial yield gaps, there are immediate opportunities to increase production through improved soil and water management, use of quality certified seeds, balanced use of fertilizers and proper plant protection measures (GoP, 2011a). The existing certified seed coverage is unsatisfactory. Pakistan can increase cotton production by about 62.5 per cent with the use of certified BT seed and modern pest control techniques. The availability of water is the principle constraint in Pakistan's agriculture. The efficient use of water is the basic requirement for accelerating agricultural growth.

In addition to stressing water conservation, an important part of the current strategy for accelerating growth in the agricultural sector is to shift the pattern of production towards higher value-added activities. Two such activities are animal husbandry and dairy farming. Pakistan’s dairy sector has an enormous potential, but it is still untapped. The country is the 4th largest milk producer in the world, yet its share in the global milk market is negligible and only 3% of the total milk production is currently processed. Overall, the contribution of the dairy sub sector to the national economy is Rs 540 billion (with 97 per cent as informal non-documented economic activity), and is expected to grow at 4 per cent per year under the current scenario (GoP, 211a).

2.3.8 Ocean and Seas

Pakistan has a coastline that stretches to over 1050 km, (990 Km measured as a straight line) along the Arabian Sea. It consists of sandy beaches that are interrupted by rocky protruding points. The country’s coastal ecosystem is rich in resources and comprises numerous deltas and estuaries with extensive intertidal mudflats and their associated wetlands (the Indus Delta has an estimated 3,000 square kilometers of delta marshes); sandy beaches; rocky shores; mangroves; corals and sea grasses.

In order to promote conservation of its mangrove resources Pakistan joined Mangroves for the Future (MFF) initiatives as a dialogue country in 2008 and prepared its draft

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National Strategy and Action Plan (NSAP) to meet the requirements of Regional Steering Committee of MFF for becoming regular member of this regional programme. The 6th Regional Steering Committee (RSC) meeting of the MFF held in Thailand in January 2010 considered Pakistan’s National Strategy and Action Plan and made it a model for other countries. Pakistan has now become a regular MFF member and is entitled to receive assistance for institutional strengthening, capacity building and implementation of relevant projects in the coastal areas of Pakistan (GoP, 2010a).

A fisheries and aquaculture development policy and strategy was formulated in Pakistan in 2006, whereby the environmental concerns were fully taken into account in aquaculture development. The policy emphasizes the need to rehabilitate marine aquatic environments damaged by pollution and environmental degradation and seeks to promote sustainable management of aquatic resources and establish protected areas and fish sanctuaries for conservation of fish biodiversity. The policy also supports fisheries conservation in all coastal area management and planning processes through a mechanism for cross-sectoral integration and participatory decision-making (GoP, 2010a) The policy combines marine and inland capture fisheries production with coastal and inland aquaculture based on environmentally sound and sustainable production along with related processing. It envisages a 10 percent annual growth and targets $ 1.0 billion export earnings from the sector by 2015 (GoP, 2010a). With the assistance from the Norwegian Government and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, deep-sea fish resources are being surveyed and charted.

In terms of controlling pollution, a major success achieved is in the development of oil spill contingency plan. Pakistan’s Prime Minister, in October 2007, approved in principle the proposed National Marine Disaster Contingency Plan. It was drawn up in the wake of the 2003 TASMAN SPIRIT incident. The Plan has been divided into 3 major areas to deal with spillage, including Hazardous and Noxious Substances, search and rescue operations and salvage operations. The overall responsibility for oil pollution incidents within Pakistan's 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone lies with the Director General of the Maritime Security Agency (MSA). The MSA, under the control of the Ministry of Defense, has practical control on pollution related accidents. The port authorities control spill response within port limits. However, since their response resources are relatively limited, they are likely to call for assistance from the MSA. When oil impacts the coastline the relevant Provincial Government is responsible for clean up, although it is likely that they too would turn to the MSA for assistance. In a major accident, the spiller would be called upon to provide resources and equipment.

2.3.9 Atmosphere and climate

Realizing the significant impact of poor Ambient Air quality, the Ministry of Environment (now Ministry of Climate Change) developed Pakistan Clean Air Programme (PCAP). Pakistan Environmental Protection Council approved PCAP on 29th March 2010. The salient features of the Programme are as follows:

• Gradual exclusion of diesel run vehicles from urban centers. • Establishment of Environmental Squad of Traffic Police in all major cities to control

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smoke. • Introduction of low sulphur diesel and furnace oil and promotion of alternate fuels in

the country. • Encourage installation of pollution control devices and other technologies for vehicles

and industry. • Relocation of brick Kilns and adoption of alternate technology for brick

manufacturing.• Establishment of Indoor Air Quality Standards.• Urban tree plantation, forestation in deserts and sand dune stabilization• Proper disposal of solid waste.

Transport is the major activity contributing to atmospheric pollution. Therefore a number of actions have been undertaken in this sector to control emissions. These included voluntary inspection and tune up of vehicles; phasing out of two stroke engines, use of cleaner fuel, and promotion of mass transit system. A voluntary inspection and tune-up programme was included in the UNDP - Global Environment Facility - Fuel Efficiency in Road Transport Sector (UNDP-GEF-FERTS) project and thousands of vehicles were tuned up at several stations. Following that, a centralized system has started operation by the private sector but it is controlled and overseen by the Government. This handles emissions and safety issues as well, and is in operation for all commercial and other types of vehicles.

The Framework for Economic Growth (GoP, 2011a) gives great importance to climate change in view of its grave negative consequences for the country. The Framework under the subtitle, “Ensuring economic growth is sustainable and climate resilient” discusses various themes under the topic. The first theme on protecting growth from the risk and costs of climate change-induced disasters stresses integration of risk reduction and management concerns within the planning process. The second theme relates to climate proofing economic growth from the impacts of climate change in particular on the agricultural, water and energy sectors. The third theme focuses on the green growth through investment in low carbon technologies. The Framework pledges provision of adequate resources for the Government’s climate change policy and related action plans.

2.3.10 Management of waste

Section 11 of Pakistan Environmental Protection Act prohibits discharge of waste in an amount or concentration that violates the National Environmental Quality Standards. National Environmental Policy of Pakistan (2005) Clause 3.3 demands prevention and reduction of waste and proposes:

Strict enforcement of National Environmental Quality Standards and Monitoring and Reporting System

Reduction, recycling and reusing of Municipal Solid Waste. Development and enforcement of rules and regulations for proper management of

municipal, hazardous and hospital waste,

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The country also has a solid waste management CDM project in Lahore entitled “Avoided emissions from organic waste through alternative waste treatment processes” Its approved baseline and monitoring methodology is AM0025 version 9. The project is to produce fertilizer from solid municipal organic waste through state of the art aerobic windrow type composting technology. It would help in achieving the objectives of combating climate change under UNFCCC by reducing significant amount of greenhouse gas (Methane) emissions and contribute to the regional and national sustainable development. The project costing US$ 5.5 million would reduce emission amounting to 7844 tones CO2 equivalent per year.

2.3.11 Chemicals and Hazardous Waste Management

Pakistan is party to the following chemicals and waste related conventions: Basel Convention on the Control of Trans-Boundary Movement of Hazardous

Waste and their Disposal Rotterdam Convention on Prior Informed Consent for Certain Hazardous Chemi-

cals Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants Vienna Convention and Montreal Protocol on Ozone Depleting Substances (ODS)

Section 13 of The Pakistan Environmental Protection Act 1997, prohibits the import of hazardous waste and Section 14 disallows handling of hazardous elements. National Environment Policy 2005 has established Hospital Waste Management Rules And Hazardous Waste Management Rules.

In terms of institutional mechanism National Technical Advisory Committee on Chemicals (NTACC) has been established to review and evaluate concerns of industrial chemicals and waste to take appropriate decisions. Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) manages import / export control system related to different chemicals and waste. National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has been made responsible for emergency coordination in case of chemical disaster in the country. The Ministry of Food Security is managing the matters related to pesticides industry.

Inventories on sources of PCBs, Dioxins, Furans and POPs pesticides have been developed in accordance with guidelines of Stockholm Convention on POPs. UNITAR Pilot Project (2006-09) for Strategic Approach to International Chemical Management (SAICM) was implemented in Pakistan to develop an integrated National Programme for sound management of chemicals and waste. Mercury Inventory Pilot Project was successfully completed in 2008 while management of mercury and mercury containing waste project was undertaken in 2009-10.

2.3.12 Radioactive Waste Management

Pakistan is committed to abide to all international agreements it has adhered to, that relate to safety and safeguards of its nuclear facilities. It is also committed to interact with international organizations like International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO), and World Nuclear Association (WNA) etc.

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The country has ratified the following International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Conventions, which are relevant to Radio Active Waste management

Convention on Physical Protection of Nuclear material Development and enforcement of rules and regulations for proper management of

municipal, hazardous and hospital waste

Radioactive Waste Policy of Pakistan covers all radioactive wastes produced from civilian nuclear installations, radiation facilities and activities. Under this policy the country is committed to manage radioactive waste in such a way as to avoid imposing an undue burden on future generations. Pakistan will follow the fundamental safety principles of IAEA for the management of radioactive waste and abide by all international agreements to which it is a signatory.

Pakistan Nuclear Regulation Authority (PNRA) is to ensure safe control of all radioactive waste that is generated and shall also be the responsible for the verification of compliance with regulatory requirements. Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) has been made responsible for safe and secure disposal of civilian radioactive waste and is authorized to charge fee from its generators. All radioactive waste management activities are to be conducted in an open and transparent manner and the public shall have access to information regarding waste management. PAEC has been made responsible to formulate national radioactive waste management strategy in accordance with the national policy on radioactive waste.

2.4 Strengthening of Major Groups

Pakistan made efforts to engage and involve civil society organizations and major groups in both the NCS development and NSDS consultation process. These engagements are necessary for effective implementation and oversight as well as propelling the sustainable development process through civil society activism.

Development of national environmental quality standards and promotion of clean fuels provide two good examples of successful involvement of major groups in the promotion of sustainable development. In both cases Pakistan Environmental Protection Council constituted committees, with membership from the government and major groups. The designated chairman of the committee represented major groups while a relevant Government Line Department and an organization of the major groups together provided the Secretariat of the committees. The Committee set up issue-specific ‘Expert Advisory Subcommittees’ with experts from both the government and major groups for the development of policy papers, strategic/action plans, and guidelines. These were presented to the Stakeholders Round Tables for wider consultation and feedback. The finalized documents were submitted to PEPC for approval through the Committee (Khwaja, 2008).

2.4.1 Non-Governmental Organizations

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Among major groups, national and international NGOs and academia including IUCN, Leads Pakistan, and WWF have played important role in promoting sustainable development through advocacy, education, training and capacity building, demonstration projects, monitoring and research, undertaking environmental campaigns and raising environmental awareness and/or acting as pressure groups. Besides working on their own, they assisted the Government in the development and implementation of projects and programmes. The media has also remained proactive and played a major role in drawing attention to pressing environmental problems and in raising awareness.

2.4.2 Local Authorities

Local Governments have been put in place and encouraged in Pakistan for three reasons. Firstly, local governments enable a greater participation by the citizens in the management and control of their daily affairs. Secondly raising taxes at local level or charging user fees for services rendered is relatively much easier. The taxpayers can see the visible benefits of the payments they have made and appropriate those benefits for themselves. Thirdly, in case of Pakistan, research on Deprivation Index has shown that at least eighty out of over 120 districts suffer from deprivation of basic services and minimum levels of incomes that are acceptable. Local government because of intimate knowledge of the local problems and the solutions to resolve those problems lead to better results and more efficient utilization of resources compared to a more centralized system of resource allocation (Husain, 2011). It is only the local governments with greater participation of the local inhabitants that can plan and execute the strategies that are required and mobilize the resources needed to finance them.

2.4.3 Youth

The 15–29 year olds, form 27.63 per cent of Pakistan’s population–defined as the youth cohort. Between 2006-07 and 2008-09, this cohort increased by 1.8 million1. The need to provide education, health and livelihood for the growing youth population is becoming increasingly important. The national internship program (NIP) for youth was introduced in Pakistan in 2008 to induct unemployed graduates and post-graduates. It was to provide them with both hands-on-experience and temporary financial relief. The scheme provided opportunities to fresh graduates to keep themselves engaged and gain real life experiences, thereby facilitating their improved employability in the country. It has not only benefited the unemployed to establish their professional networks but also facilitated government institutions, which lacked full strength. The NIP can be further streamlined by monitoring and evaluation, defining terms of reference for internees in each government organization and ensuring the placement of internees in government organizations relevant to their skills. The programme is being expanded to private sector by giving tax incentives for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

Youth Engagement Services (YES) Network Pakistan has also institutionalized the concept of Youth Service in Pakistan and demonstrated its impact in disadvantaged 1If the definition of youth is extended as per Pakistani standards to accommodate persons between the ages of 25 to 30 years as well, then 41 per cent people were concentrated in the age range of 10 to 29 years in 2008-09. The size of this cohort increased by 1.8 million over 2006-07.

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communities. This non-profit organization provides youth with opportunities to become self-reliant and contributing members of the society through Youth Service Programs, Youth Social Entrepreneurship Programs and Service Learning programs. YES Network focuses on re-integrating youth into the society as active-citizens and not as citizens in-waiting. Its programs sensitize young people with the concept of bringing positive change in the society and provide young social entrepreneurs financial assistance and material to run a youth service project. So far, it has sensitized and trained over 50 principals of leading educational institutions, trained and engaged over 1,200 teachers, engaged over 20,000 young people in designing and implementing community-based micro social enterprises and established over 100 Youth Service Networks.

2.4.4 Women

There have been some impressive gains in the empowerment of women in recent years, with reserved representations in federal, provincial and local elected bodies. The Women’s Protection Bill 2006 is another important step in providing them some relief against institutional injustices. One dimension of political empowerment i.e. representation of women in National and Provincial Assemblies, has been achieved well ahead of the 2015. This is a significant milestone in reaching a key MDG goal. Further, as part of affirmative action, the quota for women’s employment in the Federal Civil Services has been increased from 5 per cent to 10 per cent. Another major initiative, the National Policy for Development and Empowerment of Women (NPDEW) was articulated in March 2002.

Many of the MDGs are embedded in gender equality and provide a vision of a much-improved world by 2015, where extreme poverty is cut in half, child and maternal mortality is greatly reduced, and gender disparities in primary and secondary education are eliminated. Education and health services will thus remain crucial to all gender equality programmes.

2.4.5 Business and Industry

Efforts were made to encourage and promote public private partnership to achieve the common goal of addressing sustainable development issues in a more coherent, integrated and holistic manner. This initiative helps in building up each other’s strengths, enhancing efficiency in the use of resources on common issues and ensuring complementarity of efforts. Government, Corporate Sector and Civil Society were brought together to focus on three objectives, i.e., building partnerships to development and strengthen linkages among sustainable development projects through sharing experiences/learning and exploring the possibilities of pooling resources for achieving maximum results. The success achieved has been highlighted in Box 2.2 above.

2.5 Means of Implementation

2.5.1 Institutional Framework

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The country established an enabling institutional environment for sustainable development in the post UNCED era. During this period a full-fledged Ministry of Environment (now Ministry of Climate Change) was set up. As mentioned in the previous chapter Pakistan Environmental Protection Council (PEPC), Environment Protection Agencies at the federal and provincial levels and Environmental Tribunals were also strengthened. PEPC, chaired by the prime minister, is the highest environmental policy making body in Pakistan, and has broad responsibilities for environmental protection and promotion of sustainable development. PEPC's functions are to supervise implementation, enforcement and administration of national environmental legislation; approve national environmental policies and standards; coordinate the integration of sustainable development into national plans and policies; and provide guidelines for conservation of biodiversity and environmental protection considerations in natural resource management.

The Ministry of Environment and its associated subjects were either devolved2 or assigned to other Federal Government Ministries after 18 th constitutional amendment. However, recently this process has been amended by firstly formulation of a Federal Ministry of Disaster Management3 and then again renaming and evolving it into a Federal Ministry of Climate Change4.

2.5.2 Financial Resources

Despite severe financial constraints there was a progressive increase in financial allocations for environment and sustainable development in Pakistan in Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) after the approval of National Conservation Strategy. However lately, severe resource constraints have resulted in reduction of such allocation (Table 2.2). The PSDP funding is used for resource conservation projects, institutional development, capacity building and support to NGOs working in the area of sustainable development.

Table 2.2. Pakistan: Allocation of Funds for Environment &SD

Year Allocation (Rs. in Million)1992-93 811994-95 137.6341995-96 360.9021996-97 522.963

2 Cabinet Division notification 29th June 20113 Vide Cabinet Division notification dated and comprising NDMA, PEPC, Federal EPA, PEPAC, GCCISC and policy, legislation, plans, strategies and programs regarding disaster management, climate change, environmental protection and preservations and MEA’s.4 Vide Cabinet Division notification dated 18th April, 2012

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1998-99 33.6472000-01 286.982003-04 642.0062004-05 745.4232005-06 30772006-07 65002007-08 85002008-09 95002009-10 45002010-11 2300

Overall, an allocation of around Rs 5,500 million was made for the environment projects in the federal PSDP 2009‐10. There were about 55 projects under implementation, which covered mass awareness, environmental education and environment protection; preparation of land use plan; fuel efficiency in road transport sector; projected areas management; forestry; biodiversity; watershed management; hospital waste management; environmental monitoring; capacity building of environmental institutions; natural disaster, early warning and mitigation; improvement of urban environment; etc. However, release of funds remained a serious issue during the year due to financial crunch being faced by the country.

Many projects including forestry, watershed management in Mangla and Tarbela Watersheds were underway to reduce sediment load, create employment opportunities, alleviate poverty, conserve the natural resources and rehabilitate the degraded land resources ‐ through nurseries and plantations, construction of check dams, soil conservation, establishment of community organizations, terracing, etc. Various tree-planting projects were also underway and the tree cover in the country (state and privately owned) has increased by 5.17%. To achieve the MDGs targets of vegetation cover of 6% by 2015, 6 projects of forestry resource development costing Rs. 12.00 billion were being implemented. Moreover water filtration plants were under installation in different areas. After completion of targets for each union council, next phase of the programme would be to install one plant in each village.

2.5.3 Technology transfer

Desire to promote cleaner production to achieve partial compliance with NEQS, reap a direct financial return as well as to meet competitive challenges of the toughening international environmental laws and legal requirements have provided incentives for the development and transfer of environmental technologies in Pakistan. The following cleaner production Initiatives have been undertaken in Pakistan during the last 15 years:

Cleaner Technology Program for Korangi Tanneries

Technology Transfer for Sustainable Industry Development

Environmental Technology Program for Industry

Introduction of Cleaner Technologies in Punjab Tanneries

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Energy Conservation Program for Tanneries

Hospital Waste Management Project

Implementation of Cleaner Technologies in Textile Sector

Establishment of Cleaner Production Centers at Attock Refinery, Sialkot and Tex-tile College Faisalabad

Establishment of Cleaner Production Institute (CPI) Lahore

Ozone Depleting Substances Project

Cleaner Production Program for Industries

Program for Industrial Sustainable Development

These initiatives have resulted in the implementation of Cleaner Production Technologies at process level in about 250 industries including 120 tanneries, 60 textile mills, and about 70 other industries (Rafiq, 2012). These have also led to the development of a big market for environmental products and services, which has been estimated at about 20 million $US at present. The success of these initiatives has also attracted the attention of government, NGOs and other international development agencies to take similar steps to facilitate and promote cleaner production in industry. The establishment of Cleaner Production Institute in Lahore and Cleaner Production Center in Sialkot Pakistan are important examples. The WWF Pakistan is also doing projects of capacity building and knowledge development to promote better environmental practices in textile industry (Rafiq, 2012).

Cleaner production intervention have until recently concentrated on process improvement options. However, lately, due to energy shortfall in Pakistan and the international competitive pressures the resource conservation, energy efficiency and recycling measures have also been gaining ground. The growing consciousness on climate change and introduction of Clean Development Mechanism are also helping to open new opportunities for promoting environmental technologies.

2.5.4 Promoting Education, Public Awareness and Training

The formulation of National Conservation Strategy (NCS) of Pakistan as far back as 1992 played a major role in creating awareness about environmental protection and management needs, and promotion of sustainable development. Its implementation also led to the promotion of public awareness on the linkage between environment and development and on the social impacts resulting from environmental damage. The NCS Resource Centre was very active and instrumental in this regard. The midterm review of the NCS implementation considered awareness raising to be its most important achievement (Henson et al, 2000).

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The increased interest of major groups particularly NGOs and media also played significant role in raising the profile of environment and sustainable development in Pakistan. Role of IUCN, WWF, LEADS and SDPI is particularly laudable in this regard. Family Planning Association of Pakistan also took messages about environmental health and sanitation to local villages thus spreading awareness, as did UNICEF. Celebration of World Environment Day, Earth Day, and Biodiversity Day etc. also played important role in raising awareness. Declaration of 2009 as the Year of Environment in Pakistan was a major event during which diverse activities were undertaken not only to raise awareness but also to launch major initiatives such as Clean Air Programme, Pakistan Water and Sanitation Programme, Green City Programme, Village Clean Up Programme etc. A number of seminars/symposia, conferences, conventions, exhibitions, and exposure visits were also organized. Articles were published in print media and talk shows; dramas and programmes were organized in electronic media.

The Ministry of Environment (now Climate Change) undertook a major project on National Environmental Management Information System, which is still under implementation. This project played a major role in collecting collating and dissemination of information on sustainable development.

2.5.5 International Cooperation

Pakistan has been contributing effectively to the activities and initiatives taken by international institutions such as Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD), UNDP, UNEP, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) that were developed to facilitate countries in the promotion and formulation of programmes for sustainable development. It was one of the first countries to contribute to Global Environmental Facility (GEF). Pakistan is also coordinating with UNDP, UNEP and the World Bank and working in the capacity of implementing agency of the GEF activities.

It is also collaborating with United Nations bodies, agencies, funds and programmes for the execution of various projects on sustainable development in Pakistan. The country has received assistance from the UN; multilateral funding agencies including International Funding Institutions like the World Bank and Asian Development Bank as well as bilateral donors such as Japan International Cooperating Agency (JICA), Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), US AID and Government of the Netherlands etc. Table 2.3 provides an idea on the type of assistance Pakistan has obtained from United Nation Offices.

Pakistan is actively participating in the activities relating to Environment and Sustainable Development under SAARC & SACEP in the South Asian region. Some of these institutions include SAARC Convention on Environment.

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Male Declaration on Transboundary Movement of air pollution & its management, regional oil spill contingency plan of protection of marine & coastal environment in association with all marine member states of South Asian Seas Programme.

Pakistan has also endorsed into bilateral agreements of cooperation with a number of countries i.e. Asia, Europe, North Africa (China, Japan, Iran, Turkey, Morocco, Germany etc) on different aspects of environmental protection and sustainable development

The country has also received assistance from other UN bodies that have offices outside Pakistan such as the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the Secretariats of the Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs). Table 2.3 Pakistan: Some Examples of Assistance Received from UN for Sustainable Development

UN Agency Area in which assistance was providedFAO Integrated Pest Management, Forests-related programme,

Pollinator-friendly Best Management PracticesWFP Watershed management, Flood VictimsIFAD AgricultureUNDP Pro-poor Policy support - development of PRSP II; 2010 National MDG Report,

Capacity building at national and sub-national level, Partnerships with private sector and local communities, Gender Equality Initiatives, Disaster/Risk Management, Livelihood Support Programme, Integrated Environment Management – development of National Forest Policy; Wetland Policy; Environment Impact Assessment Process; Energy Conservation Act etc., Community-led initiatives support by small grants programme, Governance - strengthening of institutions and public sector organizations and support to local authorities and communities.

UN Women Technical assistance to Ministry of Labour and Women’s Development for policy development, Institutional Capacity Development of federal and provincial ministries/departments/civil society organizations for empowerment of women, Institutionalizing gender equality, Adoption of gender approach in national/provincial development initiatives, Launch of Gender Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Network (GRRN) for providing technical assistance to humanitarian organizations in addressing gender issues, Capacity Development for gender and child-related initiatives, Assistance to Government initiatives related to protection of rights of women and girls.

UNICEF Policy support - formulation of National Sanitation and Drinking Water Policies (approved 2006 and 2009 respectively), Development of National Standards for Early Childhood Education, Child Friendly and Inclusive Education, Equity and social inclusion-related assistance, Promotion of communication systems for societal change, Contribution to Early Recovery Programme in 2010 Flood Affected District – including water and sanitation programmes

UNIDO Support for promoting sustainable industrial development through cleaner

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production, CDM, and waste management; Sound Management of waste and chemicals, including destruction of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), Energy Efficiency in the industrial sector, Renewable Energy for productive application, Support to Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) in promoting Renewable Energy and green economy initiative.

UNFPA Assistance on population related matters, Capacity building of Population Census Organization,

UNESCO Education for Sustainable Development

WHO Health

UN- HABITAT, UNEP andUNESCP

Policy and institutional development, capacity building in addressing urban and environmental challenges, Disaster risk reduction

Lately, UN Agencies that have offices in Pakistan are channeling most of their assistance through One UN Programme (United Nations, 2009). The “One Program” is the framework that covers major strategies, initiatives, approaches, and tools through which 60-80% of the UN’s resources in Pakistan will be provided for the 2008-2010 period with the possibility of going beyond 2010. Responding to national priorities, five Joint Programme areas have been identified for UN support to the developmental processes in Pakistan. These include: agriculture rural development and poverty reduction; education; health and population; environment; and disaster risk management. In addition, four cross cutting issues addressed in all the five Joint Programmes include civil society engagement, human rights, gender equality and refugees. These represent the anchors of the One UN Programme in Pakistan.

Besides UN, the International Financing Institutions such as the World Bank, IMF and the Asian Development Bank, have been assisting Pakistan through loans,grants,policy and institutional capacity development programmes. SAARC and SACEP have also assisted Pakistan in a number of activities including management of coastal areas, transboundary air pollution, climate change and biodiversity protection through initiation of cooperative programmes between South Asian countries..

Among bilateral agencies it has received assistance from CIDA, Norway and Switzerland in the formulation and/or implementation of NCS, from JlCA on environmental monitoring and waste management, from Netherlands on clean industrial production, from GTZ on promoting use of natural gas in buses, and from Norway on sustainable fisheries development etc.China has also agreed to support Pakistan in achieving the goals of sustainable development7

References

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2. GoP Government of Pakistan, 2011b, Pakistan Economic Survey 2010-11, Ministry of Finance, Economic Advisor Wing, Islamabad

3. GoP Government of Pakistan, 2010a, Pakistan Economic Survey 2009-10, Ministry of Finance, Economic Advisor Wing, Islamabad

4. GoP Government of Pakistan, 2010b, Draft National Forest Policy, Islamabad5. GoP Government of Pakistan, 2010c, Final Report of the Task Force on Climate

Change, Planning Commission, Islamabad.6. GoP Government of Pakistan, 2009a, Pakistan Economic Survey 2008-9, Ministry

of Finance, Economic Advisor Wing, Islamabad.7. GoP, Government of Pakistan, 2009b, Pakistan Fourth National Communication

to CBD Secretariat, Ministry of Environment, Islamabad8. GoP Government of Pakistan 2007, Vision 2030, Planning Commission,

Islamabad9. GoP Government of Pakistan, 2005, National Environmental Policy, Ministry of

Environment, Islamabad10. GoP Government of Pakistan, 2002, National Action Plan to Combat

Desertification, Ministry of Environment, Islamabad11. GoP Government of Pakistan, IUCN and WWF, 2000, Biodiversity Action Plan

for Pakistan, Rawalpindi. 12. GoP Government of Pakistan, and IUCN, 1992, Pakistan National Conservation

Strategy, Karachi.13. Government of Pakistan and UNDP, 2010, Pakistan Millennium

Development Goal Report 2010, United Nations Development Programme, Islamabad.

14. Husain I, 2011, Models of Local Democracy within a Federal System: The Experience of Pakistan, Keynote address at the Commonwealth Local Government Forum Seminar on July 6, 2011 at Sheraton Hotel, Karachi

15. Khan, AU, 2010, Evaluation of Industrial Environmental Management, Pakistan, Report Prepared for the Ministry of Industry and the World Bank, Islamabad

16. Khwaja, MA, 2008, Strengthening the Role of Civil Society ‘Major Groups’ in Sustainable Development, Research and News Bulletin, SDPI, Vol. 15, No 1, Islamabad

17. Rafiq, MA, 2012, The Cleaner Production and Institutional Development in Pakistanhttp://www.google.com.pk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CFwQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lead.org.pk%2Fattachments%2Fmtd%2Fmtd50%2Fattachments%2Ffellow_case_study.pdf&ei=3ziwT4W7AfGK4gTeurGbCQ&usg=AFQjCNFQrGRMeBiZt4EeBQc3RFJa_2p2jw

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http://www.google.com.pk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CFwQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lead.org.pk%2Fattachments%2Fmtd%2Fmtd50%2Fattachments%2Ffellow_case_study.pdf&ei=3ziwT4W7AfGK4gTeurGbCQ&usg=AFQjCNFQrGRMeBiZt4EeBQc3RFJa_2p2jw



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Chapter 3

Challenges and Constraints

3.1 Introduction

Despite limited resources, research base and technology; Pakistan, as witnessed in the previous chapters has made substantial progress in the implementation of outcome of Rio Summit and World Summit on Sustainable Development, held at Johannesburg in 2002. This chapter will examine the challenges and constraints and assess the needs from Pakistan’s national perspectives towards the promotion of sustainable development in general and implementation of Agenda 21 and JPOI in particular.

Pakistan faces numerous challenges to sustainable development some of which are unique to Pakistan. These include war on terror, vulnerability to climate change and demographic challenge. The war on terror, which is being fought at Pakistan’s Western borders for the past few years, has had serious impact replacing ‘the development paradigm’ by ‘the security paradigm.’ The vulnerability to climate change is another serious concern particularly due to increase in the occurrence of climate related hazards. The global recession has also hit Pakistan hard particularly in terms of foreign direct investment. In addition, some previous studies such as the mid-term review of National Conservation Strategy (Hanson et al, 2000), The World Bank (2006), Pakistan Strategic Country Environmental Assessment, and Sarhad Provincial Conservation Strategy Revisited (GoNWFP, 2004) have also identified some key problems towards achieving sustainable development, which among others have been highlighted in the following account.

3.2 Challenges Unique to Pakistan

3.2.1 War on Terror

Since 9/11, Pakistan has been at the epicentre of the global “War on Terror”. Between 2002 and end‐April 2010, a total of 8,141 incidents of terrorism have occurred on Pakistan’s soil, resulting in 8,875 deaths of both civilians as well as personnel of law enforcement agencies, and injuries to a further 20,675 people (GoP, 2010a).

Beyond statistics of human casualties, the cumulative effects of the campaign of terror unleashed in Pakistan have been enormous. Lives, homes and incomes have been uprooted, while educational attainment for virtually a whole generation of school‐going age in the affected areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA) has been jeopardized, or severely undermined.

The biggest challenge of this war is to the economy. It is officially estimated that the cost of the war between 2001 and 2010 has been over US$ 43 billion. It amounted to around 6 percent of GDP only in 2009‐10. The economy was subjected to enormous direct and indirect costs which continued to rise from $ 2.669 billion in 2001-02 to $ 17.8 billion in 2010-11and it is most likely to rise further.

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This has affected Pakistan’s exports, prevented the inflows of foreign investment, affected the pace of privatization program, slowed the overall economic activity, reduced import demand, reduced tax collection, expenditure over-run on additional security spending, domestic tourism industry suffered badly, hundreds; and thousands of jobs could have been created had economic activity not slowed as well as thousands of jobs were lost because of the destruction of domestic/foreign tourism industry; destruction of physical infrastructure (military and civil) massive surge in security related spending; migration of thousands of people from war affected areas and the associated rise in expenditure to support internally displaced persons.

Pakistan’s investment-to-GDP ratio has nosedived from 22.5 percent in 2006-07 to 13.4 percent in 2010-11 with serious consequences for job creating ability of the economy. Going forward, Pakistan needs enormous resources to enhance productive capacity of the economy. The security situation will be the key determinant of the future flow of the investment. Promotion of sustainable development in the country demands an early end to this war.

3.2.2 Climate Change

The challenge of climate change for Pakistan is extremely serious (Box 3.1). It will affect all dimensions of sustainable development - economic, social as well as environmental. Economically the detrimental impacts of climate change will be widespread and have bearing not only on water security, food security and energy security but also on diverse sectors including agriculture, livestock, forests, and fisheries, industries and transport etc. Climate change will also have social impacts such as adverse effects on health; cause displacement of people and loss of their income due to enhanced extreme natural events such as floods and droughts or sea level rise. As such it could also jeopardize hundreds of jobs; may result in inflation of food prices and increased number of people at risk of food security and hunger; and result in migration, civil unrest and conflicts. Climate change will also have serious impacts on biophysical conditions such as change in the ecology

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and habitats. Greater risks will be posed to Pakistan’s coastal and marine environment, forest and biodiversity, and other vulnerable ecosystems such as rangelands, degraded lands and mountain ecosystems.

Areas, which are experiencing worst affects of climate change in terms of disasters frequency in Pakistan, include Balochistan, Tharparker, Cholistan and Northern areas. Unfortunately, these are also the poorest regions of the country. Therefore to ensure continuity of current economic growth in the medium to longer terms, and for extending social protection, it is extremely important to address risks posed by natural disasters to these lagging regions.

3.2.3 Demographic Challenge

Pakistan is the fifth most populous country in the world (GoP, 2011a). With an annual growth rate of 2.05 percent, it is expected that Pakistan will become the fourth largest nation on earth in population terms by 2050 (GoP, 2010a). Despite fall of population growth rate in recent years, the total population of the country will increase substantially in the next few decades due to heavy demographic base. While it adds these populations, it does not add the assets and institutions of these countries (GoP 2011a). Therefore, this increase in population, if not utilized effectively in terms of demographic dividend could be one of the most important factors causing various environmental problems, including the scarcity of resources such as land, forest, water and biodiversity, and may contribute

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Box 3.1 Challenge of Climate Change to Pakistan Pakistan is highly vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change. Maplecroft (2011) Index of vulnerability to climate change gives Pakistan 16 th rank among 170 nations of the world. The country has moved up in the vulnerability index since 2010, when it was rated 29 th. The 2012 Global Climate Risk Index of Germanwatch ranks Pakistan as eighth among over 180 nations of the world It had given Pakistan the first rank in 2010. This is rather ironical for a county that contributes very little to the global green house gases (GHGs) and ranks 135 th in the world in per capita GHG emissions.

The adverse effects of climate change are already being felt in Pakistan. Two examples of these are the history’s worst flood that hit the country in 2010 and the history’s worst drought that it experienced in 1998 – 2002. The unprecedented flooding submerged one-fifth of the country and affected more than 20 million people and caused a damage of about US $ 10 billion. The economic damages suffered from 14 major floods, since 1947, have been estimated at USD 6 billion. Similarly, the drought of 1998-2002 demonstrated that even this phenomenon has serious repercussions by affecting agriculture, livestock, water resources, food security and environment. Overall the drought of 2001 reduced economic growth rate in that year to 2.6 % as compared to an average growth rate of over 6 %. The drought and flood events are likely to enhance in the wake of possible drastic shift in weather pattern in the wake of climate change.

Sources: Harmeling, 2012; Maplecroft 2010, 2011; Refugee International 2010; NDMA, 2007; Qureshi and Smakhin, 2004

further to water and air pollution.

The growing population will also be accompanied by an increasing number of urban dwellers. Most projections (United Nations, 2009) indicate that the rate of urbanization in Pakistan will continue to increase. This is due to the in built momentum of high growth rate in the past. According to some base case projections, the year 2030 will be a major landmark in Pakistan’s demographics, as for the first time in its history, the urban population of the country will constitute 50% of the total (GoP, 2010a), after which it will become predominantly urban. There are, at present, nine cities with population exceeding one million and 75 cities with population between 100,000 and a million. Some of these cities are located closely forming clusters. For example, the Gujranwala-Sialkot-Gujrat cluster has a population of 2.6 million and has specialized in engineering and surgical goods development. The cluster has also shown social capital development as the chambers of commerce in Sialkot have through private initiative constructed an airport in the middle of the cluster (GoP, 2011a). The challenge is to utilize this social capital for promoting sustainable development. These cities, if allowed to develop as centres of trade, commerce and leisure, could become the drivers of growth and productivity, offering opportunity for economic betterment, environmental enhancement, and a better quality of life.

3.3 Global Recession

The Global recession originating in 2008 through Global Financial, Food and Fuel Crises has hit Pakistan hard. In financial terms it reduced Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and also reduced demand for its exports . The financial crises have put a strain on the spending plans of a number of countries in the Middle East, some of which had large investments planned in Pakistan. Foreign direct investment (private) stood at $ 1,232 million during July-April 2010-11 as against $1,725 million in last year, thereby showing a decline of 29 percent (GoP, 2011b).

ADB (2011) issued a study recently on “Global Food Price Inflation and Developing Asia”, which maintains that a 10 percent rise in domestic food prices in Pakistan for one year could push an additional 3.47 million people below the $1.25-a-day poverty line or worsen poverty situation by 2.2 percentage points. Global food prices rose by more than 30 percent year-on-year between March 2010 and March 2011 with serious consequences for the poor, as they are very sensitive to these items. Food inflation in Pakistan has averaged 18 percent for the last four years, which implies significant deterioration of purchasing power of the poor.

The international average prices of oil surged from $ 76 per barrel in July 2010 to $ 123 per barrel in April 2011 thereby showing an escalation of 61.2 percent during the period. The impact of this phenomenal increase in international oil prices is obviously quite serious on the national economy.

A key challenge for Pakistan that has emerged from this recession is to build a resilient interrelated socio- economic and ecological system, which is able to respond to the types of shocks such as financial, fuel and food crises that recently affected the world economy.

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The roots of such a system will lie in the adoption of resilient and adaptive governance with focus on three elements: (i) respecting the limits; (ii) developing resilience; and (iii) caring for system linkages.

3.4 Other Issues in Sustainable Development

3.4.1 Institutional Set up

Since sustainable development as outlined in Agenda 21 and JPoI covers diverse issues from economic, social and environmental dimensions, it therefore poses a challenge to involve all concerned institutions and stakeholders in their implementation. Participation is an important element in the ownership. Like participation co-ordination at various levels of Government is also critical. No doubt Federal Government should be in the lead but effective implementation at ground level is inconceivable without the involvement of provincial and local governments. At the Federal level, the focal point for sustainable development has been the erstwhile Ministry of Environment (now Ministry of Climate Change), which has the mandate to deal with environment but does not have the mandate to deal with the other two pillars of sustainable development i.e. economic and social. The Pakistan Environmental Protection Council (PEPC), which is responsible to coordinate the integration of sustainable development into national plans and policies also has heavy environment representation and needs to be made broad based with membership covering economic and social dimension of sustainable development.

The key challenge at federal level is to involve ministries of Finance, Economic Affairs, Water and power etc. that have not played effective role in mechanism for implementation and rarely accorded priority to sustainable development objectives. As a result, the sustainable development agenda has lagged behind. For example, while the Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy should have aimed at promoting sustainable development, the full PRSP (GoP, 2003) did not refer to sustainable development as one of its goals. It gave more significance and recognition to the environment and poverty nexus, as did the PRSP II (GoP, 2007). Similarly, MTDF 2005-2010 (GoP, 2005a) declared sustainable economic system, as one of its key objectives as opposed to sustainable development.

An even greater institutional challenge in implementing sustainable development agenda is to gain even greater attention at the provincial and local government levels, where implementation takes place. The authorities at those levels need to play the primary role not only in the implementation but also in the monitoring of sustainable development through project clearance process, and by overseeing the compliance and enforcement. Provincial Planning and Development Departments can help in integration of policies at their level while their corresponding Sections can conduct screening of project proposals within their jurisdictions.

3.4.2 Legislation and Regulations

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Pakistan developed very good policies for dealing with different issues regularly, as mentioned in previous chapters in line with the country’s international commitments. The challenge is to back them up with legislation. For example, there has been virtually no or little legislative sanction or punitive action for lack of implementation.

Moreover, there is no comprehensive act dealing with sustainable development. Provision for sustainable development primarily emanates from the Environmental Protection Act of Pakistan 1997. It is again mainly covers area under environment and does not deal with economic and social dimensions. Even in environmental dimension, a major criticism labeled against it is that it concentrates primarily on brown issues. Even in brown issues, a major problem is the lack of procedural detail and descriptions of regulatory mechanisms that are normally specified in environmental protection legislation (specifications of mechanisms and prescription of procedures are left to the regulations). Omitted from the Act, for example, are detailed procedures for pollution control, EIAs, appeals, and public participation. Third party rights in EIAs and pollution control have not been defined. Although the Act is broadly applicable to air, water, soil, marine and noise pollution, and handling of hazardous wastes but it does not deal directly with some major issues. For instance, there is no provision in PEPA 1997 that directly deals with the soil and marine pollution.

It also falls short on many of the important issues like control of ozone depleting substances, waste management etc., the provisions of which have been included in the National Environmental Policy. Under the Act delegation of powers to provincial EPAs is not prescribed but is handled through notification in the Government Gazette. Such a mechanism creates problems of subsequent delegation of power to divisional or district officers in the provinces, and may require provincial EPAs to enact their own laws. Despite not being totally perfect, PEPA 1997 is a basic legislative tool that has empowered the Government of Pakistan to frame and enforce regulations for the protection of environment. In terms of regulation, the current NEQS provide standards for emissions and effluent from selected sources, but do not establish standards for the ambient quality of air or water. In addition, aspects of these standards are out-of-date, no longer reflecting current understanding or technologies.

3.4.3 Lack of implementation framework

Lack of implementation framework of action at all levels of government with accountability structure and an outcome based performance structure is another important challenge that that needs to addressed effectively.

3.4.4 Institutional Capacity

There is also a need to build the capacity of authorities and institutions at Federal, Provincial and Local levels to implement as well as mainstream sustainable development in the planning process and to upstream such capacity in planning departments. Provincial Planning and Development Departments can help in integration of policies at

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their level while their corresponding Sections can conduct screening of project proposals within their jurisdictions. Their limited permanent capacity, however, may need to be supplemented with expert assistance as necessary. At the same time, the Federal environmental authority has a legal mandate to ensure the enforcement of national strategies, laws and regulations, which includes Federal oversight and suspension of delegated powers. Bringing greater clarity to this structure would reduce the institutional design constraints to improve implement sustainable development objectives in their true letter and spirit. The challenge here is to build an institutional approach to enhancing capacity and encouraging improved performance at different levels of government by developing incentive-based partnerships between the Federal and Provincial Governments on the one hand and between provincial authorities and local governments on the other. The approach may link the transfer of financial support for institutional strengthening with demonstrated performance towards sustainable development.

3.4.5 Environmental Accounting

Due to lack of environmental accounting, there is no idea on how much loss in natural assets is taking place. In the absence of economic valuation of environmental goods and amenities and ecological services such as trees, air quality, species and bio-diversity etc. there is a lack of internalization of the externalities such as environmental costs in industrial, business and other activities. As a result the depletion of ecological resources continues. A general idea on the environmental costs can be had from a World Bank (2006) study that estimates the natural asset loss in Pakistan per year is equivalent to six percent of GDP or Rs 365 billion per year as follows

Table 3.1 Pakistan: Cost of Environmental Degradation

Type of Environmental Damages Annual Cost in Pak Rupees (Billions)

Inadequate Water Supply, Sanitation & Hygiene 112Agricultural Soil Degradation 70 Indoor Pollution 67 Urban Air Pollution 65 Cost of Lead Exposure 45 Rangeland Degradation & Deforestation 6 Total 365 Source: World Bank (2006)

A major challenge in the implementation of sustainable development is the absence of assignment of economic or market value to ecological capital. In the case of water-for instance, which is a public good, the government avoids putting appropriate price tag and enforce it. The World Bank Report (2006) on the environment cited above, pointed out that, paradoxically, in a country where water scarcity is a serious problem, there is evidence that in several years agricultural yields declined with increased water usage. This evidence was obtained from studies and satellite imagery for both Sindh and the Punjab. The relationship was a direct consequence of over-watering. Since irrigation fees

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have been set too low and are not related to consumption, there is a tendency to use all the available supply. The result is an increase in water logging, damage to soil structures and an inevitable reduction in productivity. A similar problem is occurring at household level, where a lot of wastage is resulting from low prices. Correct price to water usage could not only oblige the household to use water prudently but also provide necessary resources to rebuild water infrastructure.

3.4.6 Governance

The main cause of deficit in governance is lack of accountability. Accountability to stakeholders is essential for the promotion of sustainable development, and will only be achieved by ensuring that stakeholders are informed and empowered. Opportunities to strengthen accountability in Pakistan include measures to improve public consultations and disclosures in the policies and project development and implementation. In addition, public access to information, and support for the involvement of civil society in activities related to the promotion of sustainable development in particular towards monitoring and enforcement is also extremely important.

A good example of governance problem is energy sector. The Framework for Economic Growth (GoP, 2011) refers to energy crisis in Pakistan as a governance issue. It states, “problems stem from the reality that the state is deeply involved in controlling all aspects of the energy sector and has not been able to provide the enabling environment, and as a result large scale investments required have failed to materialize. Good governance, financial stability, deregulation and an open door policy for private sector investment and private sector participation are a prerequisite for the large-scale investments required by the sector if it is to contribute to the rapid growth of the economy. Technical & commercial audit of the generating companies (GENCOs) and distribution companies (DISCOs) further highlighted the crisis in governance. ”In way forward, the Framework argues, “It is estimated that the Energy Sector requires an investment of over US $ 35 billion in the next five years. The state cannot finance these investment requirements and therefore the private sector must be provided the environment whereby these investments can be forthcoming. Pakistan must regain the ability to attract the public and private financial resources necessary across the energy sector to meet this growing demand. Reformed governance is the critical success factor. If the governance issues are fully and successfully addressed, then, and only then, will it be possible to resolve the fundamental problems of the energy crisis.”(GoP, 2011a)

3.4.7 Citizens’ Participation

Although the development of National Conservation Strategy (GoP & IUCN, 1992), set a tradition for involvement of citizens, the participation of key stakeholders such as business, industries, communities and civil society is not at the desired level and is not institutionalized appropriately. Put simply, those who were supposed to implement policies did not participate in building the normative framework. Hence they have minimal stake and inclination to pursue sustainable development.

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Citizen involvement, among others, is a very important resource for compliance and enforcement. While there is often a difference of opinion between government regulators and civil society organizations, they share a common interest in promoting sustainable development and ensuring a healthy environment. Active citizens’ involvement in enforcement of laws and regulations can help supplement an agency's efforts by raising public awareness and building popular support for otherwise controversial enforcement actions. Supporting public interest advocacy through legal associations and relevant NGOs can reinforce this role. Further, life shows that the law is important but the citizen’s attitude towards the law is probably more important, the challenge is to give it a positive direction by building a constituency with them. Moreover, information disclosure or transparency and active communications form the ‘life-blood’ of any strategic transition to sustainable development. Information should be accessible to all stakeholders so that they can analyze problems, pinpoint the polluters and understand challenges.

3.4.8 Sustainable Production and Consumption

To pursue the sustainable economic growth in Pakistan the challenge is to reduce the resources intensities of production—at least for those impacts that are at the threshold of sustainability. This can be achieved by reducing the material/resource intensity of the growth through the application of eco-efficiency standards, which will delink the economic growth and production from materials, land and energy use, whereby the rate of their use needs to be less than the growth of the GDP achieved. The result of delinking, also known as decoupling is a more efficient use of resources. Nevertheless this is not sufficient to achieve environmental sustainability, which ultimately requires absolute reductions in the use of energy and materials to reach the level of dematerialized growth. Hence if material consumption can be brought to such limits in Pakistan, economic growth can be guaranteed to be sustainable.

The challenge in improving the eco-efficiency of consumption demands framing and implementation of right policies as well as involvement of all stakeholders-Government, business and entrepreneurs as well as consumers and civil society. Appropriate policies could provide individual consumers to make environmentally friendly choices – sensitizing the end-users about the social benefits of these choices, while wider participation and confidence of stakeholders can ensure success of the policies. businesses, governments, civil society and consumers all have the power to affect change, sometimes in ways that are not traditionally perceived to be their role. Consumers may feel a moral responsibility to live sustainably, however they cannot do so without effective information sharing from governments, NGOs and the businesses.

3.4.9 Natural Resources Protection and Management

The current Pakistan Framework for Economic Growth (GoP 2011) as well as Vision 2030 (GoP, 2007) advocate and project high rates of output growth. Such growth is critical in creating employment, alleviating poverty and making resources available for infrastructure and human resource development, and for increasing access to basic amenities. However, this will also increase the pressure on resources such as energy,

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water and food.

Food security, as indicated by research (Khan & Shah, 2011; GoP, 2010), has deteriorated in Pakistan in recent years. A number of measures have been undertaken to deal with food insecurity and its associated environmental and ethical issues in Pakistan. These measures included increasing food supply through enhanced production and food imports, managing food demand through population control, increasing food availability and affordability through infrastructure improvements, introduction of poverty alleviation strategies, social safety nets, and nutritional improvement programs. However, the country is still food insecure, and this insecurity is likely to pose a greater challenge in time with the growth in population.

Ensuring adequate supply of water and safeguarding its quality is another problem. The current availability of less than 1000 cubic metres per capita (Source: GoP (2007) has already reached water stress regime compounded by overuse of irrigation water resulting in water logging and salinity.

The country’s present storage capacity at 9 percent of average annual flows is also very low compared with the world average of 40 percent (GoP, 2010b). Without additional storage, the shortfall has already increased by 12 per cent (GoP 2007), which may be further exacerbated by potential climate change (GoP, 2010b).

The situation in energy sector is no less serious. According to Energy Security Action Plan (GoP, 2005b), the primary commercial energy demand in Pakistan is projected to increase six and a half times from about 55 million ton of oil equivalent (mtoe) in 2005 to 360 mtoe by 2030 (GoP, 2005b, 2007).

With the increasing use of energy and resources, the pollution load in terms of discharges is also expected to increase inevitably. With unchanged policies and technologies, emissions from power plants, industries, and traffic will grow exponentially, and is likely to have a corresponding high cost on human health. Hence, there is a need to formulate and implement appropriate policies and programmes. A major task is to develop clear signals and incentives that the Government can provide to organizations and actors responsible for promoting sustainable development. Enforcement of environmental legislation, rules and standards for enforcing policy instruments poses one of the biggest challenges that would need to be resolved effectively.

3.4.10 Monitoring and use of Sustainable Development Indicators:

Monitoring and reporting along with research and policy analysis is central to the implementation process. It is imperative to establish a cooperative monitoring mechanism at all levels of the Government, so that stakeholders understand changing contexts, future prospects, needs and responses, and develop a ‘learning’ approach to promote sustainable development. Pakistan is one of the few developing countries of the world that have developed an integrated set of indicators to allow analysis of the inherent trade-offs and interlinkages between the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. The challenge is to use these indicators, developed through National

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Environmental Information Management System (NEIMS) project, for monitoring the progress in the implementation of sustainable development.

3.4.11 Resource Constraints

The Government lacks the resources needed for Investments in Promoting sustainable development. Recent PRSP-2 report predicts a shortfall of 5 billion US$ in social sector investment, for achieving MDG targets. The expenditure that the government is supporting to mitigate the effects of social problems is rising day by day in the shape of law and order expenditure and direct social support programs. The fiscal space at the disposal of government is already very limited in the wake of recent economic turmoil and impact of natural disasters and would curtail further the government’s ability to allocate enough funds to social welfare, implementation of MDGs or promotion of sustainable development.

References

1. ADB, 2011, Global Food Price Inflation and Developing Asia, Asian Development Bank, Manila

2. GoNWFP Government of NWFP, 200, Sarhad Provincial Conservation Strategy Reloaded, Peshawar.


4. GoP Government of Pakistan, 2010, Pakistan Economic Survey 2009-10, Ministry of Finance, Economic Advisor Wing, Islamabad

5. GoP Government of Pakistan, 2010b, Final Report of the Task Force on Climate Change, Planning Commission, Islamabad.

6. GoP Government of Pakistan, 2009, Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper II, Ministry of Finance, Islamabad, December.

7. GoP Government of Pakistan 2007, Vision 2030, Planning Commission, Islamabad

8. GoP Government of Pakistan, 2005a, Medium Term Development Framework, Planning Commission, Islamabad.

9. GoP Government of Pakistan 2005b, Energy Security Plan, Planning Commission, Islamabad

10. GoP Government of Pakistan, 2003, Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, Ministry of Finance, Islamabad, December.

11. GoP and IUCN (1992), "The National Conservation Strategy of Pakistan," Karachi

12. Hanson, AJ et al, 200, Pakistan National Conservation Strategy: Commitment to Action, Islamabad.

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13. Harmeling S, 2012, Global Climate Risk Index, Germanwatch, germanwatch.org/klima/cri.pdf

14. Khan MA and Shah SAA (2011), Food Insecurity in Pakistan: Causes and Policy Response, Journal of Agriculture and Environmental Ethics, 24,493-509

15. Maplecroft - Global Risks Portfolio and services, 2011, Maplecroft’s Climate Change RiskAtlas ,http://maplecroft.com/about/news/gra_2011.html

16. Maplecroft - Global Risks Portfolio and services, 2010, Maplecroft’s Climate Change Risk Atlas, http://www.maplecroft.com/about/news/climate_change_risk_list_highlights_vulnerable_nations_and_safe_havens_05.html, Accessed on 7 November, 2010

17. National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), 2007. National Disaster Risk Management Framework Pakistan, March, Islamabad.

18. Qureshi, Asad Sarwar; Smakhtin, Vladimir U. 2004. Extracting wetness from dryness: Water harvesting against droughts in Pakistan. A contribution for the special session on “Drought mitigation” at the 55th ICID Conference held in Moscow, September 5-12.

19. Refugee International 2010, Confronting Climate Displacement: Learning from Pakistan’s Floods, Washington DC.

20. World Bank (2006) Pakistan Strategic Country Environmental Assessment Report, Islamabad.

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http://www.maplecroft.com/about/news/climate_change_risk_list_highlights_vulnerable_nations_and_safe_havens_05.html

http://www.maplecroft.com/about/news/climate_change_risk_list_highlights_vulnerable_nations_and_safe_havens_05.html

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Chapter 4

Implementation Imperatives4.1 Introduction

The mechanism for implementation in Pakistan are extremely important as emphasized in the new Framework for Economic Growth, which states, “ many good policy proposals and plans have been prepared but were never actualized. Our consultations have shown us that one reason implementation is poor in Pakistan is because plans are expected to be implemented by the very system that needs change (GoP, 2011).” This chapter highlights the mechanisms for implementation that are needed to address the sustainable development agenda in the country. It is quite wide ranging from setting up of an institutional mechanism to developing a framework of action or road map with the involvement of all stakeholders. It involves cooperation of all stakeholders as well as horizontal and vertical coordination, ownership and cooperation of all tiers of Governments. It also covers financing for change, building institutional capacities, establishing means for providing incentives and accountability in implementation, putting appropriate legal and regulatory framework in place, promoting awareness and participation, empowering relevant stakeholders, and establishing an effective feedback mechanism through monitoring and reporting.

4.2 Means of Implementation

4.2.1 Institutional framework

There is a need of three level institutional framework to implement the sustainable development agenda at the federal, provincial and local levels based upon the government structure that has evolved over the years along with its current readjustments in the light of 18thConstitutional amendment.

Prior to 18th amendment the Ministry of Environment was the lead organization responsible for promoting sustainable development in the Government machinery. Environment, with some other subjects was on a concurrent list dealt by both Federal and Provincial Governments. National Economic Council (NEC), with the head of state/government as its Chairman federal and provincial ministers as its member, the Economic Committee of the Cabinet (ECC) and the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) were the main bodies for the approval of plans, programmes and major projects. In addition, the Federal Planning Commission was responsible for the formulation of the five-year development plans and at the provincial level the provincial planning departments formulated the annual development programmes and served as focal points for the NEC and ECNEC.

The 18th Constitutional Amendment eliminated the concurrent list leading to the abolition of twenty or so federal ministries, including those dealing with sustainable development subjects, such as environment, health, food and agriculture, labor and manpower, population welfare, women development and youth affairs. The bulk of the subjects listed

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in the Concurrent List were devolved to the provincial level. However, National development planning and inter-provincial coordination, has been made the joint responsibility of the federal and provincial government, to be addressed through reconstituted Council of Common Interests (CCI), the composition of which has been amended so as to include provincial Chief Ministers. The mechanisms for approval of the plans, programmes and projects have been retained along with the Planning Commission.

Before the 18th Amendment, in December 2009, the 7th National Finance Commission (NFC) Award (Mustafa, 2011) amended the formula for the division of financial resources between the federation and the provinces, giving the latter a larger share of government revenues. The 18th Amendment and the 7th NFC Award have thus significantly transformed Pakistan’s governance mechanism as well as the institutional structure responsible for sustainable development. The restructuring under the 18 th

amendment offers an opportunity to revamp on sound basis the government structure to implement sustainable development agenda. A three tier institutional framework was proposed during discussions on finalization of national sustainable development strategy (NSDS) of Pakistan (GoP, 2012) for implementing sustainable development agenda as follows:

National Sustainable Development (SD) Commission – It was proposed that the existing multi-stakeholder body of PEPC (Pakistan Environmental Protection Council), headed by the Prime Minister and all Chief Ministers of the provinces as members, may be re-designated as the National Sustainable Development Commission, which will satisfy the requirements of the 18th amendment of removing environmental subject from the federal purview as well as meet the need for a high powered body which can effectively drive the implementation process. The mandate and membership of the commission may be broadened in line with the three dimensions of Sustainable Development and its functions should include the following:

Plan, supervise and monitor the overall implementation of the sustainable development agenda and NSDS through overarching guidance, coordination and integration.

Oversee development of a five year National Sustainable Development Plan, setting quantifiable goals in priority areas.

Define the contours of a “green economy” within the context of Pakistan to ensure sustenance of environmental capital while focusing on “triple win” programs and projects that intertwine the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development.

Collate and consolidate implementation from the provincial levels and develop national progress report on sustainable development.

Constitute a steering committee under the Chairmanship of the deputy Chairman, Planning Commission comprising the Federal Secretaries of Finance, Planning, Climate Change and Social welfare Ministries as its members to oversee the implementation and reporting process on sustainable development.

The Ministry of Climate Change should act as the secretariat of this renamed body.

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Oversee working of National Sustainable Development Fund as well as explore other innovative funding mechanisms.

Create focused and empowered thematic working groups and public-private round tables as per need for the promotion of sustainable development.

Approve incentives and instruments for the promotion of sustainable development goals.

Provincial Sustainable Development Commission

The provinces should have the flexibility to decide on designating a department of their choice as the secretariat of sustainable development commission at the provincial level. However, preference should be given to multi-stakeholder composition of the Commission and existing bodies such as the Planning and Development Departments to act as the Secretariat. The mandate of this commission should be:

To develop and implement projects on sustainable development Ensure compliance and enforcement of the sustainable development and NSDS

provisions Consolidate progress from local level and report to the federal level. Oversee working of Provincial Sustainable Development fund. Approve appropriate incentives to further sustainable development goals

Local Sustainable Development Commission

This third tier should be established at the district level with its composition and placement to be decided by either the province or the local government. It should be responsible for:

Generating community driven ideas and concept notes for project development. Implementing the projects approved at the provincial level. Monitoring the progress physically Reporting on implementation to the provincial level

It is imperative to ensure that the Planning Commission, Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs play important role in the new institutional structure to assist the National Sustainable Development Commission, Council of Common Interests and the Federal and Provincial governments. Planning Commission is an important force for integration of economic, social and environmental policies in medium term Plans and annual development programmes. Further its respective Sections such as Environment or Social Policy Sections can promote upstreaming through their mandates to address environmental and social concerns at the policy/ project conceptualization, and approval stages of public sector projects.

4.2.2 Action Plan/Framework

Besides institutional framework, an important pre-requisite for promoting sustainable development agenda is the formulation of an action plan. The action plan should translate broad strategic goals for sustainable development particularly the ones in NSDS into

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specific targets. Some of these targets have already been agreed to under MDGs or other outcomes of international conferences (including expected ones at Rio+20). The action plan should also consider and propose an efficient system of performance-based financial transfers, combining transparent decision-making with the minimum number of administrative hurdles.

Although implementation of sustainable development agenda demands urgent action by all segments of society including government, the private sector, NGOs and civil society at large; the government, nevertheless, should take the lead in initiating action particularly through:

Creating a vision that inspires action Setting goals and targets for action Promoting policy coordination for efficiency Developing policy instruments and incentives that stimulate action Building capacity for effective implementation Developing ‘Think Tanks’ and knowledge management system Empowering civil society for efficiency and promoting equity Ensuring the right to information for promoting accountability and timely action Promoting participation for ownership of policies, programmes and projects and

enforceability of laws and regulations and Educating and awareness raising for consensus building and promoting effective

participation

4.2.3 Legislative and Regulatory Stops

Pakistan’s NSDS (GoP, 2012) proposes the creation of Standing Committees on Sustainable Development in the Senate as well as National Assembly as this will assist in extending valuable political ownership and accountability to the process.

Further, the Environmental Protection Act would need a review to encompass the promotion of sustainable development rather than only catering for environmental protection. The regulatory framework would also need to be significantly strengthened by removing gaps and linking standards for ambient quality with updated standards for emissions, monitoring, and the provision of public information.

4.2.4 Financing the Change

Generating financial resources for sustainable development has become a major challenge in Pakistan. There is a need, in this connection, to undertake a budget tracking exercise for estimating the level of existing funding on sustainable development issues in Pakistan. This basic funding could be channeled into a dedicated Sustainable Development or Climate Change Fund5. The detailed structure and feature of this fund would need to be charted under the guidance of the Provincial Sustainable Development

5 The National Climate Change Policy 2012 already has provisions of a Climate Change fund and with the high overlap between SD and CC this could well be used

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Commissions. It is imperative to make the fund an effective channel by linking it with achievements of international indicators and targets such as the MDGs (United Nations, 2010) for attracting and leveraging resources from donors as well as private sector entities. There is also a need to focus on reducing environmentally damaging subsidies and adoption of sustainable public procurement policies – both of which can make significant contributions to financing of sustainable development in the country.

In addition, in order to attract public and private investments, while ensuring ecological safeguards incentive based measures such as tax concessions; subsidies, duty and fiscal relaxations could be introduced. Innovative funding mechanisms would need to be developed and utilized as suggested in the midterm review of national conservation strategy (Hanson et al, 2000). Exploration of the following instruments could be quite useful in this regard: (1) industrial and toxic pollution charges; (2) input taxes on agro-chemicals; (3) user charges for environmental amenities and assessment services such as those related to trophy hunting and waste disposal; (4) cost recovery for service provision where there is willingness to pay (water, sanitation, solid waste management), which could also check wasteful use of resources; (5) a variety of green payment schemes; (6) ways for communities to build financial capital to permit borrowing for environmental improvements (through micro-credit schemes, for which there are a number of well-established models); and (7) promotion of ‘green business’ opportunities such as environmental control engineering, manufacturing and installations; environmentally-certified products and businesses; energy conservation companies; and ecotourism.

Given the involvement and importance of Industry and civil society and donors in realizing the ideals of Sustainable Development in Pakistan public-private partnership (PPP) also has great potential. It could lead to realizing the potential by combining skills, expertise and other resources from different entities to achieve results that are unattainable by traditional development actions. There are tremendous opportunities for creating such partnership in the wake of growing realization: in the government about the significance of these ventures, and in the private sector to engage in such profitable affiliations. However, the relative dearth of successful PPP particularly in Environmental dimension of sustainable development in the country suggest that Pakistan has been slow to learn from international experiences. Hence lagging behind in such partnerships

4.2.5 Institutional Capacity and Governance

Given the decentralized approach for project implementation and identification of sustainability concerns, it is imperative to strengthen the governance capacity of local as well as provincial Governments and other stakeholders. Specific capacity strengthening programs may also be developed for the purpose.

It is also important to ensure transparency and accountability in the governance and implementation systems. Opportunities to strengthen accountability in Pakistan include measures to improve public consultations and disclosures in the policies and project development and implementation. In addition, public access to information, and support for the involvement of civil society in activities related to the promotion of sustainable

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development in particular towards monitoring and enforcement is also extremely important.

4.2.6 Civil Society Involvement

It is imperative to involve all major groups in the implementation of sustainable development agenda. To make it more effective, each group should have a task force or a working group such as those of industrialist from Chamber of Commerce and Industry, farmers, Journalists, Women, Youth etc. Building, consolidating and diversifying such groups in civil society, as a responsible partner is likely to play crucial role in promoting sustainable development at all levels. This participation can be strengthened by appropriate legislation, continuing education, and remodeling of public opinion. Effective involvement (participation and responsibility) of NGOs and other associations of citizens, women, youth and children, and religious communities are also important for promoting collaboration and partnerships in achieving sustainable development.

4.2.7 Environmental Accounting/Internalization of Environmental Costs

There is a need to develop some form of environmental accounting to assess the loss of environmental and natural resources assets in the development process. It is also extremely important to internalize the environmental costs in the corporate and business decision-making process. An environmental tax, for example, internalizes an externality and thus removes a distortion and increases efficiency. Its use promotes a win-win policy as it improves both environmental and economic efficiency. Similar instruments for promoting sustainable production and consumption include a) depletion charges to regulate overuse of exhaustible resources such as fossil energy. b) appropriate pricing to reduce waste and promote conservation of resources e.g. water, energy etc. c) tax write offs or investment allowances to encourage abatement measures as well as investment in energy saving, the promotion of renewable energy and the acceleration of research and development. The idea is to induce entrepreneurs to take decisions in environmentally friendly manner, particularly when considering, how and by how much to abate, and when to invest etc.

4.2.8 Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) The advancements in STI are providing new knowledge for environmental as well economic and social sciences. Together they constitute knowledge systems and networks for Global Change and are being used to build the structure of Sustainable Development. The National Sustainable Development Commission, as the umbrella body, can set up a National Knowledge Management System or thematic working groups, which can be made responsible for strategic thinking about sustainable development. For making sustainable development a reality a continuing high level of innovation—whether for policy, information gathering and dissemination, technology or institutional relationships — also needs fostering.

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Innovation is likely to drive solutions for sustainable development. An example is the way in which the expanded use of CNG can address several environmental, health and economic issues simultaneously within Pakistan. Another is the innovation surrounding microcredit systems, and how this experience can now be extended to both poverty alleviation and conservation concerns. Within regulatory systems, the innovations may be introduced to provide greater use of economic incentives for sustainable production and consumption, along with lower cost voluntary action incorporated through ISO14001 and other certification programmes.

4.2.9 Awareness raising and communication

This aspect is crucial for any behavioral shifts to happen. It would be essential to design a comprehensive communication strategy that can create mass awareness about sustainable development and inculcate public conscience about sustainable development issues.

4.2.10 Flexibility in Implementation

In implementing the sustainable development agenda particularly NSDS, it is extremely important to evolve, and not rigidly impose, a system that can effectively reset the country’s development and growth trajectory on to a more sustainable pathway. There should be continued guidance, support and policy shift towards sustainable development concerns, through a network of institutions in line with the prioritized needs of the country and evolving global agenda.4.2.11 International Cooperation

Last but not the least, implementation of sustainable development agenda cannot succeed in developing countries like Pakistan without developed countries meeting their commitments made at Rio - firstly to enhance flow of financial resources, secondly, to transfer environmentally sound technology at concessional terms and thirdly sharing of information and capacity building to promote sustainable development. The principle of ‘common but differentiated responsibilities’ invoked at Rio demand early fulfillment of these commitments by the international community.

4.2.12 International Institutional Arrangement for Sustainable Development

Pakistan has taken active part in the work of the UN system as chair of the UN Secretary General’s Task Force on System-wide Coherence in the UN system. It also performed important role in UN conferences, especially the Rio and Johannesburg Summits toward strengthening the UN and multilateral bodies in addressing sustainable development in the world. Currently, Pakistan supports the concern expressed at the Solo Dialogue and the outcome of High-Level Symposium on the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development held in Beijing (UN DESA & GoC, 2011) on the gaps and inadequacies in the existing International Institutional Framework for Sustainable Development (IFSD) such as lack of resources, over-lapping mandates, duplication and overlapping of activities, lack of coordination and coherence as well as inadequate support to the

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developing countries’ efforts to promote sustainable development (Kakakhel, 2011). Pakistan supports the stance of G77 on IFSD (Box 4.1)

4.3 Monitoring and Reporting

Monitoring and reporting is crucial to the implementation process in the promotion of Sustainable Development. There is a need for a comprehensive process of monitoring supported by a feedback mechanism that can incorporate positive learning and ensure continuous improvement. The main features of a monitoring system suggested by the NSDS of Pakistan (GoP, 2012) is as follows:

A bottom up monitoring system is proposed which can collect information and data from the ground level implementation through Local SD Commission and then report back to the Provincial SD Commission.

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Box 4.1 International Institutional Framework for Sustainable DevelopmentPakistan fully supports the stance of G77 on International Framework for Sustainable Development by endorsing the following:

The continued validity of Agenda 21 and the Rio Declaration in shaping the reform process; need for comprehensive reforms in addressing the three pillars of sustainable development; a clear division of labor among the UN entities and fora; enhanced implementation of MEA’s; implementation of the Bali Strategic Plan for Technology Support and Capacity Building; and elimination of overlap and duplication of mandates, responsibilities and activities of UN and other multilateral agencies.

Principles and ideas on strengthening of UNEP, CSD, ECOSOC as well as regional commissions and regional mechanisms established by member states, including the possibility of establishing a Sustainable Development Council on the model of the Human Rights Council, a Global Sustainability Forum, and strengthening the role of ECOSOC.

Strengthening the achievement of sustainable development objectives at the national level through an enhanced role of UN in implementation.

Technology Transfer

Financing MechanismsPakistan also endorses the recommendations of the Beijing Symposium that the IFSD reform should enable the institutions to help implement the new Agenda agreed at the UNCSD for the next 20 years, and toward this end:

a. Identify the core problems which the institutions should seek to address, with the form being based on the substance and function

b. Promote greater transparency

c. Simplify procedures for enforcement of and compliance with MEA’s

d. Reach agreement on any one or a combination of the options under consideration, which are not mutually exclusive, including the strengthening of UNEP, CSD, and ECOSOC etc.

Pakistan especially supports the Beijing Symposium’s call for ensuring that the IFSD pays due attention to the special circumstances and needs of the developing countries which are facing a number of daunting old and new challenges

Pakistan, based on its own experience as one of the eight pilot countries for the UN Delivering As One, sees Delivering As One as a good model for strengthened coordination and integration of the various facets of sustainable development at national level through national frameworks such as UNDAF.

Pakistan supports the recommendations made at the Solo and Beijing meetings that the IFSD

In turn, Provincial SD Commission can systematically monitor them against targeted outcomes of projects as well as plans and/or sustainability indicators6 to generate Annual provincial progress reports.

The provincial reports should also include feedback about suggested improvements that can be incorporated to enhance implementation efficiency and form the basis for suggesting incentives for sustainable action at the local level.

The yearly provincial SD progress reports should be collated at the Federal level by National SD Commission for internal consumption as well as provide a basis to compile medium term SD reports for presenting at global forums.

Along with a wide system of reporting by the Government at national and local levels, discussed above, it is important that other stakeholders such as industries, business, civil society etc. also compile their reports. These combined with government reports could be subsequently compiled to highlight overall achievements as well as failures.

References

1. GoP Government of Pakistan, 2012, Draft National Sustainable Development Strategy (NSDS), Ministry of Climate Change, Islamabad

2. GoP Government of Pakistan, 2011, Pakistan Framework for Economic Growth, Planning Commission, Islamabad

3. GoP and United Nations, 2010 Pakistan Millennium Development Goals Report, Islamabad

4. Hanson, AJ et al, 2000, Pakistan National Conservation Strategy: Renewing Commitment to Action, Islamabad.

5. Kakakhel S, 2011, Synthesis Report on Pakistan’s National Preparatory Process for United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, June 2012, United Nations Department of Economic and Social affairs

6. Mustafa, U, 2011, Fiscal Federalism in Pakistan, The Seventh National Finance Commission Award and its Implication, PIDE Working Paper 73, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, Islamabad

7. UN DESA and GoC, 2011, High Level Symposium on the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, Beijing, China, 8-9 September 2011, United Nations Department of Economic and Social affairs and Government of China

6 Pakistan is one of the few developing countries of the world that have developed an integrated set of indicators for the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. These indicators, for which data is currently being collected, can assist in monitoring the progress in the implementation of agenda for sustainable development. The National Commission for Sustainable Development should ensure that these indicators are prioritized for national needs and are also aligned to the MDG’s and the newly evolving SDG’s at the global level.

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Documents

· Web viewChapter 2 Implementation of Agenda 21 and JPoI 2.1 Introduction Pakistan has made considerable progress in promoting sustainable development through integration of economic,