By Adnan Rafique
ISLAMABAD: The Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) and the Embassy of Ethiopia on Friday forged collaboration to promote Green Legacy Initiative for green development, nature conservation and food security through afforestation in Pakistan.
Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) and the Embassy of Ethiopia jointly organized the seminar titled Ethio-Pakistan Fraternity Under The Green Legacy Initiative which is the flagship initiative of the government of Federal Republic of Ethiopia.
In his opening remarks, Executive Director SDPI, Dr Abid Qaiyum Suleri said the Ethiopian Ambassador is launching the leading Green Legacy Initiative in Pakistan that changed the flora and fauna of Ethiopia and incurred great societal impacts in terms of employment creation and food security.
He said the government of Ethiopia is sharing its success story with other developing countries facing climate crisis to achieve resilience against environmental degradation.
Dr Suleri underlined that unprecedented erratic rains in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) unveiled the daunting impacts of climate change that demanded the humanity to revert to the mother nature to explore nature-based solutions.
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Federal Republic of Ethiopia in Pakistan, H.E. Jemal Beker Abdula lauded the Prime Minister’s Coordinator on Climate Change for her efforts and wished her good luck for championing all efforts for mitigating adverse impacts of climate change.
While presenting on the Green Legacy Initiative, the Ambassador underlined that it is a game changer initiative based on developing synergies in raising home grown solutions and retrieving human-nature connections transforming negative anthropogenic activities into positive trajectory through afforestation.
He informed that Ethiopia is aggressively taking up green development initiatives starting from its intended nationally determined contributions, halt on import of fossil fuel-based vehicles, net zero target by 2050, whereas it has started exporting its green legacy products to countries in Europe and Asia.
Ambassador Abdula mentioned that the Initiative is the brainchild of Abiy Ahmed, the Prime Minister of the FDR who came into power in 2018 and injected various policy reforms that make Ethiopia peaceful, stable, prosperous, eco-friendly, resilient and greener. It has been formally launched at the Embassy in Pakistan in 2023, he added.
Commenting on the Initiative, he said it has four components of human-nature relationship, developing synergies and collaboration for one common goal, respect for humanity and political, economic, social and environmental wellbeing.
He mentioned that the success of the initiative relied on mass media mobilization, community ownership and high level leadership to make it a success for all.
“Based on the ecology of the particular country and region, the Initiative can be altered for suitable and convincing outcomes as Federal Republic of Ethiopia has also ensured its food security and nutrition from afforestation and all of its cities are contributing their share in this regard,” he added.
Ambassador said the FDR Embassy is honored to collaborate with SDPI and the PM’s Coordinator on Climate Change and will commence the initiative from Punjab’s mega cities and then will start in Sindh province.
“We will need SDPI support in this regard and we are proud to announce Pakistan-Ethipoia fraternity on Green Legacy Initiative,” he said.
Prime Minister’s Coordinator for Climate Change and Environmental Coordination, Romina Khurshid Alam, via telephone addressed the seminar and extended her gratitude to the Ambassador H.E. Jemal Beker Abdula and the government of Federal Republic of Ethiopia for developing between Pakistan and Ethiopia and the Africa region.
She also commended the SDPI for its remarkable work in the areas of economy, climate change, green economy, and others.
“We are ready to collaborate and work together to promote the Green Legacy Initiative. Moreover, the Ministry of Climate Change and Environmental Coordination is working on establishing International Green Parliamentarians’ Caucus and it need help from Ethiopia and where we can work together to save mother nature and learn from each other’s success,” Romina Khurshid Alam said.
She highlighted that it is now or never to stand for nature to spearhead climate action. “On this word earth day, let us make a pledge to save our planet from plastics and come closer to save it as it’s our mother nature that sustains life,” the PM’s Coordinator said.
At the end, the Executive Director, SDPI presented a memento and the latest publications of the SDPI to the Ambassador.
