Government Committed to Engage Youth in Climate Action: SAPM

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ISLAMABAD, Oct 24 (APP): Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam Saturday said the government is well aware of the fact that engaging the youth in climate improving activities is vital to transform the country towards a low-carbon and climate resilient future.

Addressing a cycling rally here, he said that over 60 percent of the country’s population is below the age of 30 while 29 percent is ages between 15 and 29 years.

“However, we cannot achieve sustainable climate through various initiatives as long as the youth bulge is not engaged in such activities”, he added.

The cycling rally was organised here under the theme ‘Cycling for Green Pakistan’ by a local organisation of young students in support with the climate change ministry. The participants pedaled their cycles from the Rose and Jasmine Garden. It was attended by a large number of youth people and representatives of various governmental and non-governmental organizations including teachers and researchers.

The SAPM said that various initiatives had been launched by the government as a part of the Prime Minister Imran Khan’s vision for Clean and Green Pakistan (CGP) programme, wherein the youth are being actively engaged. He highlighted that the CGP programme is being implemented to make cities environmental-friendly and climate-resilient with the help of 120,000 youth volunteers, which had been registered with the programme since its launch last year in November.

“I strongly believe that such a huge youth population of the country have an increasingly strong social and environmental awareness; hence, motivated to play their part in transforming our country as a whole towards a low-carbon and climate resilient future”, Malik Amin said.

He pointed out that human-caused activities globally including the use of fossil fuels, deforestation and unsustainable agricultural practices, soaring use of coal for energy purposes over last several decades contributed to global warming, which made global economies, particularly in developing countries, highly vulnerable to adverse fallouts of climate change.

The SAPM said these negative impacts of climate change had fast led to a decline in the availability of nutritious food and clean water to millions of thousands of people worldwide including Pakistan, and destroyed ecosystems and living environments. Consequently, today millions of the people faced malnutrition, hunger, diseases, and migration to safer places, rendering youth particularly vulnerable, he added.

“Given the backdrop, we must realise that it is high time that youth populations are made part of the programmes and activities related to climate change, low-carbon energy, climate smart agriculture and particularly raising public awareness, so that they will effectively pedal the global climate action towards climate-resilient future”, he remarked.

He reemphasised that the Prime Minister Imran Khan-led government would recognise the unprecedented role that youth can play to support the government policies framed for dealing with climate change impacts. Given the reason, he continued to work closely with youth-led and youth-focused organizations around the country.

Besides, many youth organisations are being empowered through the Ten Billion Tree Tsunami Programme, Clean Green Pakistan Programme, Recharge Pakistan Programme, Protected Areas Initiative to join government’s adaptation and mitigation actions, which will help enhance their effective participation in climate change policy decision-making processes.

“We are strongly committed to support and help young people of the country raising their voices on the climate actions and drive towards the clean and green Pakistan and to build a better, stronger and climate-resilient future for our children and young people”, he reaffirmed.

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