Next PANA Seminar on Climate Change 15 September 2011 Hydropower and Environment 100 Years of Norwegian Experience – Lessons for Pakistan Main Speaker: Engr. Arve Tvede, Hydropower and Environment Specialist (R), Statkraft, Oslo Local Experts – Panel Please register by 13 September latest - 50 places, first come first serve Fee: Rs. 500 per participant Venue: Islamabad Serena Hotel ________________________________ Email: atlehetland@yahoo.com Mobile (in Pakistan): 0342 – 533 5161 25.06.11 Article
PANA SEMINAR ON CLIMATE CHANGE AND DEVELOPEMNT 23 June 2011 Multidisciplinary Approaches needed to meet the Challenges of Climate Change ATLE HETLAND Climate Change was the topic for an afternoon seminar organized by the Pakistan-Norway Association (PANA) in Islamabad on 23 June 2011, supported by the Norwegian Embassy, a private well-wisher and PANA itself. The Norwegian Ambassador Robert Kvile held the opening speech, followed by a thorough talk by the Director General of the Ministry of Environment Jawed Ali Khan. The Seminar was chaired by Atle Hetland, a Norwegian Social Scientist with long work experience from Pakistan. “Climate Change is a direct threat to security of food, energy and water, and it is a serious challenge to the country”, Khan said. These threats are caused by the rapid melting of the Hindu-Kush and Himalayan glaciers, increased variability of the monsoon, the risk of floods and droughts, upstream intrusion of sea water into the Indus delta due sea level rise, reduced growing of crops, and other reasons caused by increased heat and environmental changes. Moreover, Khan explained, the changes lead to health risks, including strokes, malaria, and not least, waterborne diseases. Khan and Alice Harding Shackelford, Director of UN-Women, both stressed the fact that Pakistan is a negligible contributor to the global carbon emission but it ranks among the highest on the vulnerability index caused by climate change. Harding, Iftikhar Nissa Hassan, a former Professor with Fatima Jinnah Women University, Rawalpindi, and Karakoram University in Gilgit, and Farooq Khan, a Norwegian educated Sociologist and founding President of PANA, now Deputy CEO of TVO in Islamabad, all discussed numerous areas were climate change will affect women more severely than men. Women carry out some eighty percent of the work in agriculture. Khan also talked about the environmental consequences of deforestation and loss of livelihood and the impact of fossil fuel and emission in local communities. He stressed the importance of the use of renewable energy. Hassan stressed that women may not be literate as per a standard definition of the concept, but they are the most knowledgeable about agricultural production and related issues. They must be included in decision making and when plans and policies are made, not letting just the men, who often know less concrete knowledge and understanding, take the seats around the meeting tables. It is important to include women when implementing educational programmes for rural populations and to meet the challenges of climate change. Harding said that the current Climate Change Policy of Pakistan has not addressed the threat of climate change on women, which means that it is actually not a complete policy at all. The keynote lecture was given by M. Ali Nawaz of Snow Leopard Foundation in Islamabad and Gilgit and the University of Veterinary Sciences in Lahore. He spent four years in Norway studying at the University of Life Sciences and Environment (UMB), from where he received his Ph.D on a dissertation about the brown bear. At the Seminar, he explained key concepts, terminology and aspects related to natural resources, ecosystems and biodiversity in Pakistan. He also focused on the mountain areas and endangered species, such as the brown bear and the snow leopard. Furthermore, he discussed some research aspects, and the participants were asked to provide suggestions for research and action or, mitigation as the terminology is in the field. The large and diverse group of members of the Seminar had a pleasant and educational time for several hours, followed by an informal high tea session with music! The 80 participants were young and old, students and teachers, professors and diplomats, UN staff and NGO specialists, businessmen and women, and interested laymen and concerned citizens from Pakistan and abroad. The diverse group was indeed excellent, the organizers stressed, as mitigation in climate change can only be met through multidisciplinary approaches. The strength of a modest association like PANA is exactly that it can bring together and facilitate the meeting and discussion of a diverse group of lay and learned. Part of the task is also to help create interest for the cause. Planning is a key word, and planning must be based on knowledge from everywhere, at home and abroad, lowland and mountain, factory and farm. It is important to realize, though, that solutions can only be found at local and regional levels, not at international level alone. That means that in Pakistan, the knowledge and action must be made Pakistani. Again, solutions must be based on knowledge from everywhere; that also includes more knowledge and analysis from the local situation. A lot is being done in Pakistan by several governmental and intergovernmental organizations, including, International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), the Global Change Impacts Study Centre (GCISC), and most universities, such as, for example, COMSATS, where an international conference will be held on environmental issues 24-26 July 2011. A second PANA Seminar about Climate Change is planned held in Islamabad on 15 September 2011 entitled “Hydropower and Environment: One hundred Years of Norwegian Experience and Lessons of Relevance to Pakistan”. A Senior Norwegian Engineer and Biologist Arve Tvede will give the keynote lecture, and hopefully, show more power point slides from the beautiful glaciers, waterfalls, rivers, and hydropower stations in Norway – yes, because nature must be tamed and managed to benefit human beings, being mindful of its often fragile renewable resources. Local Experts will be discussants with a panel. _
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The general meeting place of the association are the quarterly held Hi-Tea gatherings at Serena Islamabad hotel –schedule for 2008 is 2 March and 6 April (spring),7september and 2 November (Autumn).these Hi-Teas provide guests with short introduction of topic of common interest and there is time to mingle and network.
PANA is also organizing seminars and guest lectures where topics of common interest will be highlighted. There is a strong commitment with the association to promote democracy, peace and development, inter-faith dialogue, gender and children rights and is working to advance these issues.
In addition, the association will also arrange excursion, youth activities, celebration of national days and more upon time and expressed interest.
