ISLAMABAD: Speakers at a webinar on Tuesday pointed out that disaster risk reduction must go hand in hand with rigorous implementation of environmental impact assessment and urban expansion with appropriate land use policies and plans.
The webinar on ‘Urban resilient infrastructure in Pakistan’ was organized by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI).
Aisha Khan, Executive Director of the Civil Society Coalition for Climate Change, said: Increasing energy demands, land use changes, loss of green spaces due to urban expansion and development, pressure on road networks, pollution, solid waste management and wastewater management etc.
He said energy-efficient construction, which sensitizes the public to responsible consumption of energy and other resources, is critical to prevent further exaggeration of climate change. He said groundwater withdrawals are creating pressure and that after years of negotiations, no groundwater regulatory framework or water tariff regime has been implemented.
Say urban systems need to be strengthened to withstand challenges
Khan said that to meet the rate of urban expansion, the surface water drainage and public transport system need to be improved, and stormwater harvesting remains a neglected aspect of city planning.
As a transit city to tourist destinations in Pakistan, the pressure on health infrastructure in Islamabad has increased exponentially and no capacity expansion is planned or implemented. He said that Islamabad as the capital and the planned city should be developed as a model solarized city.
Mubushar Hussain, Director of Disaster Risk Reduction, National Disaster Risk Management Fund, said NDRMF is working on disaster resilience and disaster risk management across Pakistan by issuing a call for proposals in collaboration with the public and private sector, financing and executing disaster resilience projects.
The organization also works to build community-level risk management capacity for rapid response to natural disasters, taking into account the repetitive and intense nature of such events.
He explained that the NDRMF is funding early warning systems, post-Covid-19 health systems, and nature-based solutions for ecosystem restoration and climate adaptation. It also develops a mechanism for risk transfer through disaster risk insurance based on a holistic financing model.
He explained that the financing model targets market-based, sustainable products and data to reduce the fiscal burden on the government. Currently, unplanned expansion and encroachment in urban areas have significantly affected the surface drainage system. NDRMF provides funding to the most vulnerable cities to develop these systems.
It called for research and development, technology-based solutions, and reassessment of master plans every three years for climate-smart resilient infrastructure.
Modulus Tech CEO Nabeel Siddiqui said climate smart housing is affordable, resource efficient, has a low carbon footprint and is committed to the SDG agenda. He said that while the previous government introduced policy plans for affordable housing for low-income groups, it did not address the issue of energy consumption and subsequent emissions. He drew attention to the fact that 40 percent of the emissions from housing are due to energy consumption.
It highlighted the need for a holistic approach to developing ideal net zero self-sustaining communities rather than implementing individual SDGs in isolated efforts.
SDPI Research Fellow Dr Hina Aslam said there is no more time to mitigate climate change, but instead that adaptation and action should be a proactive focus. He appreciated the initiative to enforce the urban plan to develop resilient infrastructure, land use plan and sound environmental impact assessment.
He said that unplanned and uncontrolled expansion and the takeover of urban sprawls surrounding farmland are increasing pressure on resources and undermining resilience to climate change and climate-related disasters.
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