FAISALABAD: Ambassador Martine Dorance said on Wednesday that climate change posed a formidable challenge to food security.
She was speaking at a seminar in the University of Agriculture Faisalabad. “We should collectively strive to overcome food insecurity, droughts and floods. The projected increase in temperatures worldwide in the next century will exacerbate these challenges,” Dorance said.
The French envoy said the impact of climate change on international development was a pressing issue that had to be dealt on both, the individual and the societal level. Dorance said the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change would be organised in December.
She said the event would be the largest conference in France. Dorance said the conference aimed to cap the increase in worldwide temperatures at two centigrade. She said the impact of a rise in global temperatures in excess of the cap would be difficult to manage.
UAF Vice Chancellor Iqrar Ahmad Khan stressed the need for taking steps to overcome the challenge of climate change. “We are destroying our planet with our own hands,” Khan said. He said five of the top ten countries affected by climate change over last 20 years were in South Asia.
He said forests were being destroyed for the want of money. Khan said untreated waste was being discharged in rivers and industrial units were releasing great amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. He said the varsity had been collaborating with 43 countries under the Agricultural Model Inter-Comparison and Improvement Project to fight climate change and promote sustainable practices. He said the establishment of an autonomous climate change ministry would go a long way in preventing the occurrence of natural calamities due to climate change.
Work on French funded project in full swing
Ambassador Martine Dorance said residents would have access to 15 million gallons of potable water daily following the completion of the first phase of a French funded project.
She was speaking at a meeting organised by the Water and Sanitation Agency. Dorance said work on the project was in full swing. She said the second phase of the project would commence as soon as work on the first phase was completed. Dorance said recommendations had been forwarded to the French government on this account. She said 30 million gallons of potable water would be made available to residents daily following the completion of the second phase of the project.
WASA Managing Director Syed Zahid Aziz said the agency had also launched a non-revenue water project with the assistance of foreign donors
