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(Net News/Media 92 News)Pakistan requires $40 billion to meet its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), climate and mitigation targets by 2030, said Minister for Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam
Aslam’s comments came as he addressed a climate change conference at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP24) in Poland.
Pakistan ranks 135th in terms of its contribution to global emissions, yet it has been among the top 10 vulnerable countries consistently over the past two decades. The NDCs is a binding action plan to curb greenhouse gas emissions, which countries voluntarily committed to under the Paris Agreement in 2015.
For Pakistan, Aslam went on, climate change is neither fake news nor a convoluted conspiracy, it is a stark reality. “It stares us in the face every day as we are forced to cope with recurring super floods, unpredicted droughts, chaotic heat waves, melting glaciers, as well as rapidly shifting weather patterns.”
In the past four decades, 90 per cent of the natural disasters in the country have been triggered by climate change, he explained. “Climate change, today, is adding almost 8 per cent of forced climate costs to our GDP.”
According to the Global Climate Risk Index 2019, between 1998 to 2017, over 10,000 people have died in Pakistan due to climate change and it has lost upward to $3,826 million. In 2017 alone, 262 fatalities were reported. “That Pakistan has a share of less than one per cent in global emissions underscores the unfairness that also becomes apparent,” states the report.
Under the NDCs, some of the pledges Pakistan has made include: rapid development of hydropower resources, mass transit systems in large cities, afforestation and reforestation and increase in capacity of existing large water reservoirs and dams.
One solution, identified by the minister, was low carbon economy. “Pakistan has planted a billion trees to not only meet its pledge of restoring 3.48 million hectares of forest but has today significantly enhanced it by restoring over 6 million hectares of forest.” The project, according to Aslam, created half a million jobs, revived the forest biodiversity, engaged the indigenous communities and energised the youth.
“Pakistan has so far spent more than $120 million on the green growth plan and will spend another estimated $1 billion through domestic resources. In addition, Pakistan has finalised a multimillion dollar zero-emission bus metro system for the city of Karachi, which will operate on cattle waste generated biogas.”
However, he complained that the Green Climate Fund, set up under the UN to help fund climate-resilient development, has not delivered so far, making it difficult for Pakistan to meet its targets. “The Fund needs more financing and its efficiency should be further enhanced to deliver faster and easier financing for climate mitigation projects.”
The COP24 began in Katowice, Poland on December 3 and will continue till December 14. It aims to finalise implementation guidelines for the Paris Climate Change Agreement.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday quashed a rumour stemming from his ill health that he had died and been replaced by a lookalike impostor from Sudan, his spokesman said.

“It´s real me, I assure you. I will soon celebrate my 76th birthday and I will still go strong,” Buhari said as he met with the Nigerian diaspora in Poland, where he is attending the UN COP24 climate summit in Katowice.

He was answering a question from the audience about repeated claims — spread via tweets, Facebook posts and YouTube videos — that the leader of Africa´s most populous nation was an imposter called “Jubril”.

“A lot of people hoped that I died during my ill health. Some even reached out to the Vice President to consider them to be his deputy because they assumed I was dead,” Buhari said, according to a statement signed by his spokesman Garba Shehu.

He referred to those who started the rumour as “ignorant” and “irreligious”.

Buhari, who is seeking re-election next year, spent a large part of 2017 in London for treatment for a serious illness, which has never been revealed to the public.

A lack of specific information about the illness, along with Buhari´s gaunt features and a reduction in public appearances have fed speculation about his well-being.

Claims about the president´s identity emerged a month after Buhari returned from another lengthy medical trip to London.

Those pushing the rumour were known critics of the president and his government.

Nations most threatened by rising sea levels and devastating droughts will use a UN summit in Poland on Monday to urge richer countries to pay their fair share in the climate change fight.

The presidents of at-risk states such as Honduras, Nigeria and Bangladesh are expected at COP24 talks, which aim to flesh out the promises agreed in the 2015 Paris climate accord.

But host Poland — heavily reliant on energy from coal — will push its own agenda: a “just transition” from fossil fuels that critics say could allow it to continue polluting for decades.

The Paris deal saw nations agree to limit global temperature rises to below two degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) and under 1.5C if possible.

Delegates from nearly 200 countries now have two weeks of negotiations to finalise how those goals work in practice, even as science suggests the pace of climate change is rapidly outstripping mankind´s response.

One of the key disputes is finance.

Under Paris, richer nations — responsible for the majority of historic greenhouse gas emissions — are expected to contribute funding that developing nations can access to make their economies greener.

But US President Donald Trump´s decision to withdraw from the Paris accord has dented trust among vulnerable nations, who fear there is not enough cash available to help them adapt to our heating planet.

The World Bank on Monday announced $200 billion (175 billion euros) in climate action investment for 2021-25 — a major shot in the arm for green initiatives but one which needs bolstering by state-provided funding.

The background to Monday´s summit could hardly be bleaker: with just one Celsius of warming so far Earth is bombarded with raging wildfires, widespread crop failures and super-storms exacerbated by rising sea levels.

“A failure to act now risks pushing us beyond a point of no return with catastrophic consequences for life as we know it,” said Amjad Abdulla, chief negotiator at the COP24 for the Alliance of Small Island States.
Coal controversy

The UN´s own expert climate panel in October issued its starkest warning to date.

To have any hope of reaching the 1.5C goal by the end of the century, it said emissions from fossil fuel use must be halved by 2030.

Poland is one of many nations heavily reliant on coal, and wants this round of talks to reflect the role fossil fuels play in its economy.

It will unveil a declaration calling on states to “recognise the challenges faced by sectors, cities and regions in transition from fossil fuels… and the importance to ensure a decent future for workers impacted by the transition.”

Alden Meyer, of the Union of Concerned Scientists, told AFP that while there was a responsibility to ensure fossil fuel workers were not abandoned as the world switches away from non-renewables, the need for speed was pressing.

“We don´t have decades and centuries to make the transition away from fossil fuels, the way we did from wood to coal, and coal to oil,” he said.

For some nations, the time to adapt to the effects of climate change is already here.

Frank Bainimarama, Prime Minister of Fiji and president of last year´s COP, said Poland´s submission must result in “a just transition for everyone, especially the most climate vulnerable.”
‘Serious solutions, not tricks’

The UN´s General Assembly chief Maria Espinosa said the choice between the climate or jobs was false.

“Societies need to adapt, they need to understand, otherwise we will be in deep trouble, what is at stake now is the very survival of human kind and of the planet,” she told AFP.

Poland has already come in for criticism after it announced three state-run coal companies were sponsoring the two-week negotiations.

Patti Lynn, executive director of the Corporate Accountability campaign group, called for nations to agree to the global greenhouse gas drawdown upon which the fate of the Paris agreement now rests.

“We need serious solutions from serious leaders, not dangerous schemes and political tricks aimed to keep big polluters polluting,” she said.

KARACHI: The tenth International Defence Exhibition and Seminar (IDEAS 2018), one of the most prestigious, biennially held event in the country kicked off at Karachi’s Expo Centre on Tuesday.

The four-day defence exhibition which will continue till November 30 was opened by President Arif Alvi. Around 262 high-level delegations from 51 different countries are attending the exhibition.

Addressing the opening ceremony, the president asserted, “”Pakistan is a peaceful country and we look forward to resolution of all issues in a peaceful manner. War is no option.”

The president upheld, “Our weapons are for peaceful intent.” He stressed that “instability in regions is not the only paradigm we should be looking at”. “We have handled our borders strongly and sent a strong message to our neighbours,” President Alvi said.
IDEAS 2018

Organised under the aegis of Defence Export Promotion Organisation (DEPO), the IDEAS 2018 brings together defence industry players from different parts of the world.

“There will be 522 exhibitors from 50 countries this year,” the media director of DEPO, Commodore Tariq Javed said in a media briefing.

Besides, Pakistan itself other major exporters of defence technology including China, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Jordan, Poland, Russia, South Korea, Turkey, UAE, Ukraine, USA will have their exclusive country pavilions.

The guest countries are expected to showcase their latest technological innovations while a large number of senior civil and military delegations and trade visitors from across the globe will attend the event.

The event will encompass series of activities ranging from world’s advance defence technology demonstrations, an international seminar, three conferences by the Pakistan armed forces, the IDEAS Karachi Show to a counter-terrorism demonstration.

Networking and business expansions through business to business (B2B) and business to government (B2G) engagements and the signing of MoUs are said to be additional features of the exhibition.

Two Russian naval ships will also be visiting Pakistan for port call during IDEAS 2018.

New inventions of Pakistan defence industry including those from Global Industrial Solutions, Pakistan Ordnance Factories, Military Vehicles Research and Development Establishment, Shibli Electronics,Universal Smart Military Systems and Daudson Armoury will also be inaugurated and showcased during the exhibition.

The first two days of the exhibition have been earmarked for delegations, trade visitors and networking activities. Commodore Tariq Javed said this will be followed by an international seminar on emerging global and regional environment and the role of grey hybrid warfare therein from Pakistan’s perspective. Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, General Zubair Mahmood Hayat would be the keynote speaker at the seminar with national and international subject matter experts to present their scholarly papers on the topic, he said.

Exclusive land, maritime and aviation conferences by Pakistan Army, Navy and the Air Force respectively was said to be another significant component of IDEAS 2018.

An air show by the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) is also scheduled at Nishan-i-Pakistan, Sea View, on November 29.

The fourth day of the exhibition will be open for public. “It will, however, be only for those who may have already registered themselves online to visit the exhibition,” said Commodore Tariq Javed mentioning that security of the participants, national and international visitors besides public in general will not be compromised in any manner.
PAF to showcase indigenously manufactured products

This year PAF is participating in the mega event with locally made state-of-the-art military hardware, including Air Defence Command and Control Centres and integrated simulators, a press release issued by Directorate of Media Affairs of PAF said.

Manufactured by the personnel of PAF, these simulators are being used by PAF to modernise its operational training environment.

Pakistan Aeronautical Complex Kamra would also setup their stall at the venue along with a static display of JF-17 Thunder and Super Mushshak aircraft.

Further, PAF will also present an air show at Sea View on November 29. Besides JF-17 Thunder and F-16 fighter aircraft, Sherdil aerobatics team will present a scintillating aerial display.