Islamabad: Federal Minister for Environment Ms. Samina Khalid Ghurki has said that global warming and climate change have become a reality and Pakistan in the developing countries, is most vulnerable to these. Environment has no boundaries and It is encouraging to see that world community has decided to face this menace, collectively. ECO member countries have to play their prime role to meet the environmental challenges. She expressed these views during a meeting of environment officials from the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) member states with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Tehran.
Ms. Samina Khalid Ghurki further said that increasing global warming and rapid change in climates are the most pressing problems that are directly affecting the environment. She said that Environment has become the most talked about topic and globally it is on the top agenda of every country. While highlighting the environmental issues of Pakistan, the Federal Minister said that the floods of last year are an ample proof of the extreme climatic conditions caused by global warming and has exposed our vulnerabilities to it. Pakistan is fully committed to its international obligations towards protecting the earth and its fragile atmosphere however, we should all make our contributions towards the betterment of the environment because whatever we do does eventually have a positive impact on our environment, she added.
Earlier, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad while talking with the environmental officials of the ECO member states, showed his concerns over global environmental degradation which is primary due to over exploitation by the developed countries. He rejected claims in some quarters that human progress and changing lifestyles was to blame for the environmental crises visiting an increasing number of countries in recent years. Iranian President further said that Capitalists by pushing for ever increasing consumption and also creating falsified demands (for goods/services) with the aim of maximizing profits are disrupting the equilibrium of nature.
Ahmadinejad expressed optimism that ECO, with a combined 400 million population and deep civilization roots plus abundant natural resources, could compel the world’s major polluters to change their destructive policies. “The capitalist order and the world’s top capitalists, are only interested in high profit and reducing their production costs. Their production units are hardly environment friendly. He criticized the big powers refusal to change their production patterns in the fear of earning less profit. Few countries account for half of the world’s total pollution, which is moving beyond the emission of green house gases and resulting in drought, huge temperature oscillations, unusually high levels of rainfall, flooding, he noted.
For more information, contact:
Haji Ahmed Malik
Principal Information Officer
Press Information Department (PID)
Tel: +9251 925 2323 and +9251 925 2324
Fax: +9251 925 2325 and +9251 925 2326
Email: piopid@gmail.com