Pakistan emerges as bridge builder in climate change talks

Tuesday, September 01, 2009

NEW DELHI: Pakistan is working towards developing a solution to climate change because it is in the country s interest, said Farrukh Khan, Director of Pakistan s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In an exclusive interview with The News, he said: We are playing the role of a bridge builder and have been chairing meetings in the process. It s difficult, however, to quantify the achievements. Khan is Pakistan s top negotiator in climate talks and was here to attend the Media Briefing Workshop for Journalists on Climate Change organised by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), India s prestigious independent think-tank on environment. As many as 120 journalists from South Asia attended the two-day workshop. Asked what were his expectations for Copenhagen Conference in December, he said it was a million-dollar question since it was difficult to say at the moment that the participants would be able to work out a comprehensive solution during the talks. Talks on climate change in Bangkok from Sept 28-Oct 9 will determine what type of outcome one should expect at the Copenhagen moot, he said. He said climate change was a global problem that affects everyone and talks on climate change might need more time to reach a solution because of financial crisis. Financial requirements for mitigation run into billions of dollars, he explained.

As far as obligations are considered, they have to be met by developed countries because they are the major polluters, he added. The agreement on climate change hinges on financing commitments and transfer of technology, he said. Asked if melting of Tibetan glaciers due to the climate change coupled with drying up of River Indus due to building of large dams and barrages and scarcity of water in India and Pakistan could lead to a water war , as was being predicted in many studies, he said there was indeed an issue of water stress in Pakistan because its resources were shared and could lead to a conflict. But he hastened to add that there was always a silver lining because stress could also lead to cooperation. We waste 40 per cent of our irrigation water although ours is an agrarian economy, he said. Asked how could developing countries such as Pakistan could be optimistic that developed countries would agree to their demands on climate change given their dependence on the West, he said when nations define their interests they define them according to their national interests. In multilateral diplomacy if developing countries have similar interests they work together irrespective of differences in bilateral relations, he said referring to joint stand of Pakistan and India on climate change talks.

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