Madrid: Pakistan on Thursday announced the launch of its Ecosystem Restoration Fund (ESRF) at a United Nations (UN) Climate Summit held in Madrid, according to a news report. Adviser to the Prime Minister (PM) on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam inaugurated the fund at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)’s 25th Conference of Parties (COP25).
The ESRF is a financial mechanism which will help Pakistan transition towards climate compatible development, according to the officials present at the event. They also confirmed that it is an independent, transparent, and comprehensive scheme. The various initiatives under this programme include biodiversity conservation, afforestation, marine conservation, promotion of ecotourism and electric vehicles.
The CEO of the fund, Lieutenant General (retired) Nadeem Ahmed, stated that the ESRF would also take the lead on the 10 billion tree tsunami project in all the provinces of Pakistan. He revealed that a three-step approach would be utilised for this purpose. The three steps would be developing a framework, building the capacities of both the private and public sectors, and finally, the complete implementation of such projects. He said that the theme of this initiative has been titled ‘Time for Action’.
