Member National Assembly Dr. Tariq Fazal Chaudhry has said that climate change is a global phenomenon and Pakistan is also one of the victims of it , therefore, we have to deal with it effectively by learning from good practices and examples from around the world, as well as by planting more trees and improving green character of our cities.

He said this while addressing a ceremony organized by Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry in connection with the World Environment Day, under the them , ‘Land restoration, desertification and drought resilience’ under the slogan ‘Our land. Our future, with large scale attendance by academia, students of different Universities of Islamabad as well as the business leaders.

He said that we have to take practical steps by formulating environment friendly policies and action plans to maximally mitigate its negative impacts and that government-private sector collaboration can play a vital role in creating awareness among the masses over the issue.

Dr. Tariq Fazal Chaudhry said that Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry always remains in forefront in taking initiatives on such important issues and that very soon, he himself will arrange a ceremony on the subject in collaboration with the Climate Change Ministry in which all the stakeholders will be invited including the business community leaders to chalk out a worthwhile road map to tackle the issue.

President Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Ahsan Zafar Bakhtawari said that we all are well aware of the fact that global warming, greenhouse gases and carbon footprint are posing serious challenges to the ecosystem and Pakistan despite its less than 1pc share in Green House Gases. It is facing its disastrous impact in form of heat waves, forest fires, floods and smog, etc.

He said that ICCI is contemplating to organize an ‘Environment Expo’ in near future by asserting that the government must have to encourage and facilitate the businesseses which are pursuing environment protection procedures.

Highlighting the importance of Industry-University linkages over the subject matter, he said that in this way we will be able to minimize the carbon footprint and that ICCI will extend full cooperation for the task.

Secretary General United Business Group Zafar Bakhtawari said that Pakistan is our pride and we have to join hands for making it a developed and prosperous counry and that ICCI will give an action plan for the green revolution and for this purpose will organize an historic ceremony for the clean and green Islamabad.

He asserted that every individual has to play his role in pulling the country out of the existing economic crunch by abandon the culture of blame game and forging unity and discharging his duty honestly.

President All Pakistan Anjuman-e-Tajraan Ajmal Baloch said that instead of looking towards the government for each and every matter, we as responsible citizens have to perform if we really want to live as a respectable state in the comity of nations. Professor Dr. Romana Bangash of NUST Business School, Dr. Humera Furrukh,Ms. Aneela Khan from Bahria University, Dr. Ayesha Altaf of Shifa Tameer-e-Millat, Professor Waris Ali from NUML, Commodore ® Mohammad Tahir, Convener HEC Adnan Mukhtar and Babar Chaudhry also enlightened the participants about the damaging effects of the climate change by giving possible way forwards to address the issue.