MoCC to extend nature internships for youth: Amin

BY ALI IMRAN

ISLAMABAD: Adviser to the Prime Minister on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam Tuesday said the ministry of climate change (MoCC) would extend national Nature Internships for youth of the country to partake foreign funded projects aimed at environment conservation, wildlife protection and habitat restoration in the country.
Addressing a celebration in connection with the World Wildlife Day organized by MoCC, Snow Leopard Foundation (SLF) and FAST National University as chief guest, he said Pakistan Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Protection programme (PSLEP) was among the three foreign funded projects that aimed at biodiversity and environment restoration in Pakistan. Amin said Pakistan was home to world’s unique species of Snow Leopard that were facing serious existential threats due to multiple factors. However, PSLEP was not only focusing on preserving the wildlife rather its habitat as well.
‘The Nature internship programme will help the youth to join and learn from the foreign funded projects like PSLEP, Zero Emissions Metro Bus in Karachi and Climate Smart Agriculture. These projects are of high significance that will help increase their abilities and generate innovative ideas,’ the Adviser noted.
The Ministry, he said, was also going to launch Green Youth Movement (GYM) that would be inaugurated by the Prime Minister. ‘GYM is going to establish specialized environmental clubs that will be used to garner green (nature based) and innovative ideas from youth to conserve depleting environment through technology and nature. The Ministry will commercialize those ideas into projects through the government funding. ‘An expert from Silicon Valley in Karachi has told me that the ideas taken by Pakistani youth had 80 percent success rate whereas those from the other parts of the world only managed to get 25 percent success rate. The GYM project will help in biodiversity and ecological conservation and the youth should participate in this programme,’ he added. Speaking on the occasion as the guest of honour Kyrgyz Ambassador Eric Beishemhiev said, ‘We have celebrated the World Wildlife Day 2020 as a tea, for sustaining all life on earth which is the theme for this years wildlife day.’
He said that high mountainous regions of Kyrgyzstan and Pakistan were becoming highly vulnerable due to glacial melting and increasing global warming. However, millions of people living rely on the glaciers in these high altitudes whereas the wildlife and flora in these habitats were also a source of livelihood to many people. ‘In order to save the snow leopards and this majestic ecosystem the SLF and PSLEP are working out tirelessly to save it from extinction,’ he said.
Kyrgyzstan government was taking climate change a serious threat to the country and had enacted a serious legislation to implement Paris Agreement’s nationally determined commitments in its true perspective, the Kyrgyz ambassador informed the participants.
He noted that Kyrgyzstan was the first country to hold international congress on snow leopard conservation in 2013 that became a starting point for the world to seriously work on snow leopard protection. ‘This has also helped in adopting Global Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Protection (GSLEP) programme in the countries having snow leopard habitats and species,’ he added.