Enhancing and Enabling Climate Ambition for SLCP Management in Pakistan

Ongoing

started:

2022

Building on current SLCP work in Pakistan, this project aims to undertake various assessments at subnational levels to articulate coherent provincial action plans for the abatement of short-lived climate pollutants. The project team aims to conduct a capacity assessment, a gap assessment, a vulnerability assessment and a needs assessment of the technologies and resources required by provinces in order to effectively prevent the dangerous side effects of SLCPs. The first phase of CCAC's Pakistan work covered black carbon baselining, and this project will continue by developing an effective coordination, reporting, and monitoring mechanism between the provinces to ensure a coordinated approach to SLCP mitigation and climate adaptation.

Institutional arrangements can also be barriers to integrating measures for SLCP abatement into government decision-making. The diverse and cross-cutting sectors that need to be involved often fall under different ministries and government agencies, and institutional arrangements and policies on climate and air pollution need to identify this overlap in order to be effective. A whole-of-government approach is needed to allow ministries of environment, agriculture, and public health to work together in drawing up a comprehensive cross-sectoral strategy for SLCP abatement.

By mapping out key stakeholders, identifying capacity needs, pinpointing gaps and opportunities, and recognizing leverage points for future action, this project will be the first step towards declaring Pakistan’s ambition on SLCP abatement in its next NDCs and beyond. This project aims to scope out the sector for efficient action and reduction plans in close consultation and coordination with provincial stakeholders who will be directly responsible for effectively implementating Pakistan’s national targets for SLCP mitigation.

Project reference: Enhancing and Enabling Climate Ambition for SLCP Management in Pakistan [PK-21-001]

Objectives

Develop action plans to reduce SLCPs and air pollutants
Improve capacity of government entities across 4 provinces
Build on Phase 1 of the SLCP work in Pakistan and consultation held on LEAP-IBC assessment, the second phase aims to build capacity of provincial governments in Pakistan to take action on SLCPs through the development of actions plans to reduce SLCPs and air pollutants
Include an SLCP emission reduction target within updated NDC for Pakistan by 2025

Why We're Doing This Work

Air pollution is a major problem across Pakistan, with deaths attributed to air pollution estimated at about 128,000 in 2017.  Outdoor air quality has deteriorated significantly over the years, and this can be witnessed in the smog that sets in during the winter season. One of the major reasons for this widespread smog is crop residue burning which is widely practiced in different agricultural areas of Pakistan.  

About 1.9 Mt of CO2 - eq emissions are reported to release into the atmosphere due to crop residue burning, in which methane and nitrous oxide have major share. The residue of four major crops of Pakistan i.e., sugarcane, rice, maize, and wheat are mostly burnt in the open field. Only in Pakistan, the economic loss due to air pollution is estimated at USD. Therefore, tackling this issue requires strong commitment from all the stakeholders; and provinces can play a crucial role in it. 

What We're Doing

Extensive desk review of available literature - provincial, national and international
National stakeholder consultation to set agenda, inform on priorities, analyze demands and understand challenges
Provincial stakeholder consultation to set agenda, inform on priorities, analyze demands and understand challenges in Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, and KPK
Development and dissemination of policy briefs and minutes from all consultations
Development of Stakeholder Map and Power Map with defined stakeholder roles and responsibilities in SLCP plans for Pakistan
Individual calls, consultations, meetings, reviews, document exchange and periodic communications
Development, dissemination, collection, analysis and publishing of survey and results
Development of provincial action plans in close coordination with identified stakeholders and gathered inputs throughout the project to date
Development of roadmaps, identification of sector-wide targets after extensive communication and consultation with identified stakeholders
Development of communication plans, including equitable and just measures to ensure effective implementation and communication of action plans and roadmaps 
Aligning all goals and targets into a single national agenda, where all KPIs will be identified and a national target of SLCP emission reduction will be established and propagated in consultations with MoCC
Media launches and events including webinars, seminars, talks, op-eds etc. of all action plans, reports, roadmaps and targets for public motivation and awareness