Update (13 Feb, 2020): In a meeting held in Attock, the Advisor to Prime Minister on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam stressed over the fact that the Clean and Green Programme will make Pakistan an environment-friendly country. He also informed that through this programme a helpline ‘Pukaar’ will be set up soon. The Punjab Government also plans to implement a new policy on plastic bags. The Environment Protection Department (EPD) Minister claimed that the problem related to the size, material and thickness of plastic bags has been discussed and settled with the manufacturers’ association.
The government of Pakistan is taking various environment-friendly initiatives to help build better urban communities throughout the country. The latest measure in this regard is the Clean Green Pakistan Index (CGPI), which is set to be launched on Nov. 15, 2019, in 19 cities across the country.
The motivation behind this initiative is, of course, a cleaner, greener Pakistan. The CGPI is expected to set off a wave of cleanliness drives in the competing cities. In this blog, we will discuss the parameters on which participants will be ranked.
Let’s explore this further.
The indicators of Clean Green Pakistan Index
Malik Amin Aslam, the adviser to the prime minister on Climate Change, first unveiled the details of the CGPI on Oct. 27 during a presser. He told the media that Prime Minister Imran Khan will officially launch the event in Islamabad. The ceremony will be attended by representatives of provincial government, Gilgit and Azad Kashmir. Federal and provincial ministers, ambassadors of different countries, faculty from various universities, graduate students and representatives of various international NGOs would also attend the inauguration ceremony.
At the event, the government will announce a baseline data of 19 competing cities of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). This will be the first phase of the competition. After six months, the same cities would then be ranked again to gauge their performance on the following predefined indicators.
- Public access to drinking water
- Safe sanitation
- Effective solid waste management
- Tree plantation
Based on these indicators, the government aims to foster a friendly competition among different cities of Pakistan. Moreover, there will be a rewards-and-punishment criteria to encourage cities to participate.
The cities that would show significant progress in the first phase of the Clean Green Pakistan competition will be rewarded with special funds both from the federal and provincial governments. In the second phase of the competition, more cities will be added.
How will the cities be judged?
To evaluate the environmental performance of cities for CGPI, each of the 5 indicators discussed above will be given an equal weightage of 20 marks. These 5 factors would primarily measure clean and green characters of each city on further 27 different indicators under these five themes. The Clean Green Pakistan Index will serve as measuring rod that will be used to allocate the annual budget to provincial governments.
The data for these environmental factors and the 27 different indicators of Clean Green Pakistan Index will be collected through surveys at neighbourhood levels, conducted by local government departments. The data regarding public access to safe and clean water, hygiene practices, sanitation, solid waste management and plantation categories will be collected every three months from their respective city councils working in each district of the provincial cities. Once the information gathered from neighbourhoods and households is evaluated by the Ministry of Climate Change (MoCC), the results—based on the performance of the cities in these five areas—will be announced twice a year.
Other Environment-friendly Initiatives by the government of Pakistan
The present government is focusing on making significant changes in the overall outlook of Pakistani cities. When urban cities develop, there are more buildings, modern infrastructure. In other words, cities can become concrete jungles if there is no planning on a larger scale to plant more trees or build a forest cover. That is why such initiatives by the government can be a welcome change.
Other environment-friendly initiatives by the government include the Ten Billion Tree Tsunami project and ban on plastic bags across the country. Apart from this, city authorities, on a local level, are also gearing up to work towards a greener environment.
Recently, the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) has urged housing communities to actively participate in the plantation drive in Lahore. Similarly, in Karachi, a cleanliness drive ran for an entire month in which solid waste was collected from across the city. The idea to have urban forestation in Lahore, using the Miyawaki method, is also a step towards making the city greener. The government plans to introduce more environment-friendly initiatives in the long run to steer the country towards a clean, green path of prosperity.
Such cleanliness programs and green initiatives will help combat the hazards of climate change that’s making our planet unliveable. Extreme weather conditions, smog and other forms of air pollution and melting glaciers are some of the most prominent effects of climate change, many of which are plaguing Pakistan. Introducing environment-friendly programs like the Clean and Green Pakistan index is a step in the right direction – indeed.
So, are you excited to help your city win this competition? If yes, then remember the aforementioned parameters on which each city’s performance will be gauged. So, make sure you don’t litter around. Encourage your friends and family to plant more trees. Try to reuse and recycle what you can so that less solid waste is generated.
If you think there should be another parameter added to the index, then share your views with us at blog@zameen.com and we will get back to you. Also, stay tuned to the best tourism blog in Pakistan for regular updates.
