"Energy crisis is the fundamental challenge and we have to ensure peace for improving quality of life, security and development in Pakistan and South Asian region", said Syed Naveed Qamar, Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources while speaking during the H..U. Beg memorial lecture held at the concluding day of the Sustainable Development Policy Institute's (SDPI) thirteenth annual conference, 'Peace and Sustainable Development in South Asia: The way forward' here on Thursday.
Mr Qamar added that Pakistani is going through a paradigm shift from
single-minded governance to participatory and consultative governance under
the 18th amendment implementation process. He said that there is strong need
of social safety nets while Benazir Income Support Programme is useful
initiative and efforts are made to make it a sustainable programme.
Dr Tariq Banuri, Director Division for Sustainable Development, DESA, United
Nations and founding Executive Director of SDPI, relating the historical
context of development, said that three determining factors for future
scenario 2050 which included economic growth, demography and resource
allocation are critical. He said that the optimistic vision for future lies
only in ensuring people's sustainable development through environmental,
economic and equitable development while options for renewable energy provide
real hope to achieve such development progress. Shams Ul Mulk, former
Chairperson WAPDA and SDPI, said that Pakistan is not a poor country but it
has been made so adding that future cannot be predicted but can be prepared.
Dr. Abid Suleri in his concluding remarks emphasized the importance of framing
research based discourses to holistically understand the issues facing the
bottlenecks in the way of peace and development in the development-starked
South Asian region. Rashed Titumir of Dhaka University said that "we should
not take refuge to Chicago boys rather look for indigenous options for having
multiplier effects of on our development process. Indian scholar and
professor, Avanish Kumar, lamenting over persistent internal conflicts in
South Asian region, said that peace is sustainable whereas conflict is not
sustainable.
In the panel on relationship between food insecurity, poverty, militancy and
conflict organized by United States Institute of Peace (USIP) and SDPI,
experts agreed that the food insecurity and poverty were some of the key
factors that perpetuate extremism and conflict. However, they added that there
is need of more research and empirical evidence to establish this nexus.
In the panel on water resource management, the importance of community based
water management was emphasized by experts, and the issue of water quality,
along side water availability was emphasized as urgent issues which must be
addressed by policy makers.
In a panel on reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD),
panelists emphasized the importance of forests in environmental protection and
cautioned of the need for developing a national strategy for REDD as well as
for pilot projects.
In the session on role of parliamentarians in peace and development, Shirala
Mallick, Chairperson, Standing Committee of the Senate for Women Development
urged that deep structural changes must be made in order to improve women's
rights in Pakistan.
During the panel on regional trade, the experts agreed that increasing trade
with India and the rest of the region would be highly beneficial for Pakistan. "Pakistani exports to South Asian countries represent a mere 17% of total exports and we are trying to increase it to 25% by the year 2012"." said Safdar Sohail, from
the Federal Ministry of Trade.
In a panel on energy governance, experts emphasized the loss of industrial
productivity, exports and economic growth as a result of electricity shortages
in Pakistan, urging policy makers to exploit the enormous potential of wind and solar energy in Pakistan.
During the panel on water and sanitation, the speakers highlighted 62 percent
of South Asians do not have access to improved sanitation facilities,
underlining that available water will decrease drastically decrease by 2020
which has to be addressed on priority.
In a panel on promoting decent work in post-flood situation and implications
of the floods on labor, the experts noted the need for all stakeholders to
work together to find new strategies for ensuring decent work for vulnerable
groups in the post-flood situation.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
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