National consultative workshop on Strengthening Environmental Governance on Thursday started here with the aim to stir dialogue on overhauling the ecological governance structure, identify challenges to cope with future risks through capacity building.
The one and half day workshop was jointly organised by Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (Pak-EPA), Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre (ADPC) and Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives where federal and provincial EPAs, and representatives of the World Bank participated the event. Speaking on the occasion, Director General EPA Farzana Altaf Shah in her welcome remarks said that the EPA amid increasing urbanization, environmental degradation and scarce resources was embracing many challenges in implementation of environmental laws and regulations.
She said that the workshop would prove to be a significant effort in sensitizing various government and multilateral stakeholders in realizing the importance of environmental impact assessment report approval and compliances of the law during mega development projects execution. The DG EPA also welcomes all participants to contribute their valued input for effective engagement and ground based experience for developing guidelines for the future challenges.
Adviser on Climate Change to the Planning Ministry Ali Tauqeer Sheikh highlighted the institutional gaps and challenges in compliance of environmental laws.
