By Shakeel Ahmed
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday will launch the country’s first-ever barometer that will measure green character and cleanliness of the cities, a flagship environmental conservation and protection plan of the present government, said Malik Amin Aslam, the adviser on climate change, here on Sunday.
The top key political and non-political representatives of provincial governments, including Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir, federal and provincial ministers, senior federal and provincial government officials, ambassadors of various countries, teachers, students and senior representatives of local and international non-governmental organisations will attend the grand ceremony of the CGPI launch.
Talking to media, Aslam said that the barometer called the Clean Green Pakistan Index (CGPI) aimed to improve overall green and clean outlooks of the Pakistani cities by kicking off competition among them on various indicators, including sustainable public access to clean drinking water, safe sanitation, effective solid waste management and tree plantation.
At the grand launching ceremony, the prime minister would also announce the start of the first phase of six-month competition among 19 cities of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces would made by the prime minister, Aslam added.
He said that the country’s socio-economic, health and environmental damages to the tune of around Rs700 billion rupees annually because of environmental degradation, deforestation, poor access to clean and safe drinking water and sanitation and lack of solid waste management and wastewater treatment facilities.
“Tackling these challenges by initiating competition among Pakistani cities, which are witnessing the growing exodus from rural areas, to improve green and clean outlooks is the pivotal objective of the CGPI rolled out in consultation with relevant government and non-governmental and international stakeholders,” he told media.
The prime minister’s adviser emphasised that the CGPI has been rolled out by the ministry under Prime Minister Imran Khan’s political manifesto of clean and green Pakistan and environmental conservation and sustainability.
