The most important Earth Day of our
time
By: Richard G Olson
Around
the globe, today (April 22) marks Earth Day.
When activists raise
awareness about environmental conservation and efforts to
combat global climate change.
For decades, the
potentially devastating impacts of climate change have been
the stuff of futuristic films.
In reality, our poor
collective stewardship of the earth’s resources is already
taking its toll.
In the United States,
California is facing one of its worst droughts in modern
history.
Many lakes that once served
as sources for California’s important agricultural sector
are nearly dry. Here in Pakistan, millions can attest to
changes in their environment.
Earth Day 2015 carries special importance.
Leaders from 196 countries
are preparing to gather in Paris in December to negotiate a
new climate change agenda.
They will shoulder a heavy
burden — to adopt and enforce a series of measures that will
prevent the earth from reaching temperatures deemed
dangerous to the planet.
We are not forgetting the
world’s oceans; last month, a US Presidential Task Force
released a global action plan to prevent illegal fishing,
which endangers sensitive marine ecosystems.
US Secretary of State John
Kerry hosted the 2014 Our Oceans Conference at which several
nations, including the United States, agreed to fight
overfishing.
The United States is also
working to combat climate change with our international
partners.
Pakistan ranks among the
world’s most vulnerable countries when it comes to the
destabilising impacts of climate change.
The United States is proud to
partner with the Government of Pakistan to protect
Pakistan’s water and energy resources, and ensure food
security.
Pakistan relies on hydropower
for 40 per cent of its energy needs, and we are working in
partnership with the Government of Pakistan to ensure that
the proportion of clean energy is steadily increasing.
The United States has already
funded the addition of 1,600 megawatts to the national power
grid and seeks to add another 2,000 megawatts of clean
energy by 2018.
In addition to the
construction of the Satpara Hydropower Project in
Gilgit-Baltistan, the USAID completed the Gomal Zam
Hydropower Project in Fata that provides electricity and
irrigation to the local community.
Recognising that over 90 per cent of Pakistan’s limited
water resources are used by the agricultural sector, the US
Department of Agriculture has contributed $3 million to
programmes that train farmers in water and energy-conserving
techniques such as drip irrigation and solar-powered water
pumps.
Ironically, alongside water
scarcity, floods have become an annual phenomenon. Since the
2010 floods.
The USAID Office of Foreign
Disaster Assistance has been the leading supporter of
community-based disaster risk management efforts to help
highly vulnerable populations.
I encourage Pakistan’s leaders to put forward a strong
commitment to the UN’s post-2020 climate change agenda and
to continue to seek climate compatible development at the
national and provincial levels for the sake of the next
generation of Pakistanis.
With our collective
leadership, we can ensure that history recalls 2015 as a
positive turning point in the fate of the earth.
April, 2015
Source: The
Express Tribune