ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The Ministry of Climate Change on Wednesday said the Green Pakistan Programme (GPP) was being implemented on the fast track basis for revival of forest and wildlife resources in the country.
“Following a commitment given at the 2015 Paris COP, the Prime Minister directed that a federal programme be launched for revival of forest and wildlife resources, even though both these subjects have been provincial subjects for several decades, well before the devolution of the 18th Amendment,” the ministry said in a press release.
The GPP for revival of forest and wildlife resources has been envisaged as an equal sharing federal-provincial programme to be implemented with the support of all provinces and federating units.
The programme was approved by the Prime Minister on May 26, 2016 with an allocation of Rs one billion for the current fiscal year.
Sharing the GPP implementation steps, the ministry said, the Federal Minister for Climate Change wrote anticipatory letters to the Chief Ministers of the provinces, Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (for the FATA) and Prime Minister AJK on June 8, 2016 for preparing PC-I schemes and provision of financial share for the programme.
Subsequently, on June 20 the Secretary Climate Change sensitized provincial P&D Departments to ensure funding for the programme.
An interprovincial coordination and consultative meeting was chaired by the Federal Minister Climate Change on June 29 to expedite the response from the provincial governments.
Finally the umbrella PC-I scheme for the forestry component was recommended by CDWP for ECNEC (Executive Committee of the National Economic Council) on November 10 which approved it on November 25 with a total outlay of Rs 3.652 billion.
All provincial governments have contributed towards the Green Pakistan Programme.
The Ministry of Planning, Development and Reforms (PD&R) authorized implementation on February 2, 2017.
The prime minister inaugurated the GPP on February 9, 2017 and Rs 553 million were released to provinces and territories by Accountant General of Pakistan Revenues (AGPR) on April 7.
The first meeting of the Programme Steering Committee of GPP was held on April 19 to set direction for on ground implementation of the programme activities.
The provincial consultation on wildlife component of GPP was held on July 19, 2016 and August 24, 2016. All provinces and territories got their PC-I schemes approved from respective forums and authorities from August to November 2016.
An umbrella PC-I scheme on wildlife component was processed to November 30, 2016 and approved by Central Development Working Party (CDWP) on January 17, 2017.
In accordance with minutes of the CDWP issued on February 13, 2017, an interprovincial consultation meeting was held on March 13, 2017. The PD&R issued authorization to implement the revised PC-I scheme on April 17, 2017.
The Ministry of Climate Change issued the administrative approval amounting to Rs 1.065 billion on April 20, 2017. A token amount of Rs. 6.000 million has been released for wildlife component to the provinces and territories during the current fiscal year.
“Two other aspects of GPP are the revival of historical organization, Zoological Survey of Pakistan and starting of work on the National Zoological cum Botanical Gardens in Islamabad,” the ministry said.
