Islamabad: A proposal summary has been tabled before Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan for seeking his mandatory approval with regard to the transfer of administrative control of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) to the Ministry of Climate Change, according to news sources.
Advisor to the PM on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam expressed his views on the matter during a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Climate Change, which was presided over by Senator Sitara Ayaz. He maintained that the presence of a unified umbrella was essential to counter climate change and disaster risks to the country.
The advisor said that 80% of the national disasters were brought on by climate change. He revealed that international researchers had come to conclude that 90% of the environmental concerns occurred owing to the construction of the illegally-planned infrastructure.
He added that the government had asked the Ministry of Planning & Development (P&D) to include the climate risk clause in the project concepts of every major project to ensure safety against disasters. Further, he said that the PMD needed to be equipped to adapt to modern development trends and climatic risks.
The committee recommended to merge the emergency response bodies with the NDMA and stressed that the parliamentary bodies should be more vigilant about disaster risk management and reduction measures.
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