Environmental Strategy Draft Background Report

Proceedings of Workshop and Breakout Sessions held on November 29th, 1999 at the Best Western Islamabad

Compiled by Faisal Haq Shaheen

With the assistance of Fareeha Iqbal Abdul Mateen Khan Saima Qadir

1 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Morning Session, Chair Omar Asghar Khan, Minister of Environment, Local Government and Rural Development...... 3 Welcoming Address, Mahboob Illahi, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Local Government and Rural Development ...... 3 Welcoming Address, Aziz Bouzaher, Senior Natural Resource Economist, World Bank...... 3 Presentation of Background Paper, Tariq Banuri, Research Advisor, Tellus Institute ...... 4 Reports bearing on the National Conservation Strategy Mid Term Review, Asif Zaidi, Head IUCN Islamabad, Pakistan Environmental Program Manager ...... 5 Discussion and Chair’s comments ...... 5 Lunch ...... 14 Breakout Sessions ...... 14 Session I Sustainable Livelihoods and Natural Resource Management...... 14 Session II Sustainable Industrial and Energy Developments...... 18 Session III Environmental Health and the Quality of Life...... 23 Tea...... 26 Afternoon Session, Chair, Omar Asghar Khan, Minister of Environment, Local Government and Rural Development ...... 26 Breakout Reports to Plenary...... 26 Next Steps and Vote of Thanks, Shahrukh Rafi Khan, Executive Director, SDPI...... 26 Chair’s Concluding Remarks, Omar Asghar Khan, Minister of Environment, Local Government and Rural Development ...... 27

2 Morning Session, Chair Omar Asghar Khan, Minister of Environment, Local Government and Rural Development

Welcoming Address, Mahboob Illahi, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Local Government and Rural Development

Mahboob Illahi gave the welcoming address on behalf of the Ministry of Environment, Local Government and Rural Development. He started by saying that SDPI has been holding environmental workshops for some time and the issues we face include degredation of natural resources, crops threatened by chemicals and solid waste collection in our cities. At the global level, he emphasized that we need to target environmental policies and issues related to climate change, ozone protection, etc. He closed by stating that we have now carried out an environmental assessment. Now we need to look at a long term environmental strategy.

Welcoming Address, Aziz Bouzaher, Senior Natural Resource Economist, World Bank

Aziz Bouzaher made the welcoming address on behalf of the World Bank. He outlined the current situation as having the following trends; Economic progress has been reasonably good but uneven despite significant population increase. Pakistan is experiencing fast industrial growth and exports have risen, but there is also an increase in the degradation of natural resources and an increase in urban environmental issues needing attention.

He stated that institutional policy has been weak and environmental governance poor. The total economic and social loss of environmental degradation could be as much as 10-20% of GDP. More recent information on poverty suggests that 1/3 of the population lives below the poverty level. In this regard, he explained that the Bank is preparing a corporate environmental strategy which will focus on issues which are very important to the poor, including: environmental health, sustainable livelihoods, vulnerability to risks form natural and environmental disasters, and empowerment. He said that the Bank welcomes comments and input on this strategy which is still evolving.

In terms of education, he mentioned that in Punjab there are wide disparities between enrollment and attainment. Enrollment is 25% for the poorest 20% of the population, and 90% for the richest population (income-based).

3 With respect to economic growth, he mentioned that we have recently seen a gradual slow down. He mentioned that incentives and pricing of natural resources and user charges are not being implemented. In addition, a lot of problems of air pollution are related to the use of high sulfur fuels and leaded gasoline.

Furthermore, there are no credible environmental and social safeguards in place and there are inadequate public consultations.

He summarized key environmental degradation of resources with the following points. • Agri sustainability - 40% of land is water logged, pesticide use is increasing, ground water level is decreasing. • Water pollution is also a huge problem (60% of child mortality is believed to be caused by water borne diseases). There is no good baseline information on other pollution issues. • Indoor air pollution has the potential for being the single most important issue in terms of the burden of disease in urban and rural households.

He mentioned that the report prepared by SDPI evaluates how much was and was not accomplished over the past 10 years and where we need to go from here, within the framework of the NCS and environmental strategy. He stressed the need to finalize the report and assemble a home grown strategy.

He outlined the World Bank’s involvement as being to identify key environmental issues to help reduce poverty. He stressed that the World Bank does not simply want to continue lending money but provide information and knowledge and capacity building to help the government and NGOs.

Omar Asghar Khan, Minister of Environment, Local Government and Rural Development made a few opening remarks as chair, and emphasized the need for input from the participants to validate the report. He then introduced Tariq Banuri who presented his paper.

Presentation of Background Paper, Tariq Banuri, Research Advisor, Tellus Institute

Tariq Banuri then presented the SDPI paper, summarizing the main chapters and following the outline of the executive summary. He closed by stating that a conservation program should use community pariticipation and collaboration. Natural Resource conservation and poverty reduction programs should be alligned with sustainable livelihoods programs.

Omar Asghar Khan, Minister of Environment, Local Government and Rural

4 Development made a few comments regarding the paper. He mentioned that the Government is already looking at the problem of finances and feels that we should save expenditures from defense. He emphasized the need to create awareness among people of environmental issues. With regard to policy, he assured the group that activity will hopefully be taking place soon to environmentally sensitize each sector ie corporate, government, etc. With regard to poverty alleviation, he emphasized the use of export led growth with the purpose of protecting the poor. He discussed poverty further and mentioned that Institutional arrangements and policy frameworks are important. Forestry and energy for renewables are important. He also felt the need for us to concentrate less on global projects and more on projects that are people friendly and people oriented (Hydrel projects). The Minister then left saying that he would return for the recommendatins session and Dr. Amir Mohammed took over as chair.

Reports bearing on the National Conservation Strategy Mid Term Review, Asif Zaidi, Head IUCN Islamabad, Pakistan Environmental Program Manager

Asif Zaidi then presented his paper on the NCS Mid Term Review.

Discussion and Chair’s comments

Dr. Mohammed initiated the discussion indicating that the mother of all evils is bad governance and rampant corruption. He stated that all efforts can be made useless without proper governance. He agreed that export led growth is important, but we have a very illiterate populations which handicaps us and must be taken into account. Even if all other factors are remedied; governance is fine, we eliminate corruption and the economy improves; the first five years, will see sustainability provided for by agriculture. Only then will we be able to think about export led growth.

Dr. Mohammed continued by drawing attention to the lack of marketing research in agriculture. Also, product processing and post harvesting doesn’t exist in PARC. He said that this is part of the institutional problem. Pakistan needs a marketing and post harvest program in place in order to facilitate the process of finding export markets.

Ali Habib, WWF He reflected that the discussion highlights the problems of the current economy and what can be done about it. He emphasized that this was not enough and that Pakistan’s Leadership has to make up and create a vision for improvement. He drew attention to Pakistan’s not fulfilling the expected outcomes of the green revolution or energy renewability. The latter is a current option, especially in the areas of Balochistan which are uninhabited. Organic cotton is another option, he pointed out, which is being accepted by the markets of the west. We have the

5 expertise of human resources, he said, but we need to find entrepreneurs who will promote such new options.

Anwar Nasim, Comstech He stated that we have a dilema. We drew attention to our ability to identify problems in any field and manage to identify issues. He then expressed frustration with our habit of ignoring earlier recommendations as being part of the problem. He recommended the need for a mechanism to use this sectoral feedback. Often, when things do not work, we create a façade of making them work. He posed the challenge of instituting a mechanism which can improve things six to seven years down the road, such that we can show how we have improved.

A great deal has already been proposed • Identifying the problem • Suggest solutions • Documents and ideas that address these, unfortunately much of which is recommended is shelved

Amir Mohammed, Chair We keep on making the same suggestions but nothing is really done. We need to eliminate the useless options and put together the workable suggestions.

Najib Murtaza, World Bank He mentioned that there is a conditionality of funds. The global environment fund started six to seven years ago, to which Pakistan also contributes, but to date we haven’t accessed much as we do not have the capacity to do projects on time, prepare for them, etc. He said that South Asian countries have been successful and there are lots of pockets available around the world which we can’t seem to tap into. He then questioned if it was only the government’s responsibility to do so.

Amir Mohammed, Chair He agreed that lots of proposals exist, but none of them are from Pakistan.

Najib Murtaza, World Bank He explained that workable proposals are prepared with a lot of technical assistance. He expressed frustration with the fact that the government sits back and puts restrictions on technical assistance . Meanwhile, there are arguments for and against them, but when these restriction are imposed nobody says that we have the capacity and we don’t need technical assistance. This is another dilema.

Khawar Mumtaz, Shirkat Gah She began by stating that the tragedy is the workability of environmental projects. Poverty, environmental health and sustainable livelihoods are all problems facing people. She questioned how we should transform policy into action, which

6 includes accountability and political will. She pointed to the need to build capacity and capability through examination of the elements of success for the NCS. She continued with the need to know what would work in this environment. She mentioned that there are 50,000 ghost schools in Punjab and that nothing actually comes out of them. She emphasized the need to complete initial targets before moving onto other targets. Examples included spending billions on cleaning canals while people in rural areas having no land holdings.

Shaheed Khan, Asian Development Bank He suggested that the report should perhaps add one more point. What will be the short term action plan and what were the recommendations from the previous workshop.

Naila Hussein, Shirkat Gah Ms. Hussein drew attention to the latest Multi National Corporation invasion in agriculture. She mentioned that it’s self destruction seeds aggravate the existing industrial problems. Furthermore, it increases our dependance on the west. Various measures can be taken to protect our country from this invasion as traditional seeds are more friendly to our agricultural environment than new ones.

Amir Mohammed, Chair There has been discussion about these seeds on the international level and it has been decided that these seeds won’t be sold.

Haroon Ayub Khan, Consultant He mentioned that one of the reasons for the failure of the environmental agenda is that it has viewed sectorally and has not been integrated. He emphasized the need for practical suggestions as well as increased political will to make it work. Advocacy work on environmental issues and a review of the environmental strategy for Pakistan needs to take place and the existing Pakistan Environmental Protection Council should be used for such activity. He concluded by saying that there should be no more delays and accountability needs to be assigned.

Mishka Zaman, Sungi Foundation She agreed that the environmental agenda cuts across a lot of different sectors. We need to look at local land structure, ownership pattern and ensure that implementation occurs and that there is more equitable resource sharing. Also, institutional transformation is necessary and we need to plan in such a way that the next 5 to 6 years is not wasted waiting for a key for problems being solved. She concluded with emphasis on the need for a political will to prevail.

Amir Mohammed, Chair In agreeing with Ms. Zaman, he drew attention to Pakistan’s irrigation system, the backbone of Pakistan’s agricultural survival, and that it’s deterioration will threaten its existence over the next ten years. Three recommendations were made

7 at the time of the Indus Water Treaty, but two of them were removed (due to internal politics in the decision making process) and settled on simply drawing attention to the issue rather than doing anything (they said lets measure the amount of water in each watershed and publish it). The issue of recommendation implementation also needs to be taken into account.

Javed Ali Khan, Exxon The process by which the environmental agenda is being amended needs to be taken seriously. There is a positive role of environmentalists in civil society and this strategy paper will get feedback for review. He emphasized that we can’t take a negative view of the environmental sector in realizing our achievements.

The Ministry of Environment is working with UNIDO on environmental policy. The Ministry of Environment did work on biodiversity, action plan, hospital waste management, etc and are moving forward. He emphasized that the MOE has been very responsive but the MOE iteself is a victim of the process. He concluded by stating that we need to identify the bottlenecks and decide on how to improve on them.

Asif Qureshi, SDPI He emphasized that Industry should be involved in all environmental activities. The good things that MNCs are involved in, such as better management of waste and its recycling should be shared with other industries, especially transportation of goods. This is because all transportation needs are being given to two or three companies within the next three years to meet ISO 9000 management standards. In a country where the community is poor, we should have more interaction with MNCs and learn from the expertise and experiences of others.

Shahid Zia, SDPI He referred to Ms. Hussein’s previous comment on terminator technology. He agreed that we shouldn’t depend on promises of companies to treat us equitably and fairly. Other countries have designed legislation to keep these firms out and we should too.

Amir Mohammed, Chair He agreed on the need for banning trials, but he also mentioned that the GMOs are not always bad if the work is done sensibly and responsibly.

Asif Shujah Khan, He started by saying that the main problem is not with political will but the bureaucratic will. There is a tendancy for bureaucrats to kill or slow down proposals. Whenever we are discussing environmental strategy, we need to incorporate all levels of stakeholders and decision makers. In a 5 year plan, Rs. 21 million of allocation, the actual expenditure was Rs. 4 million. Why did EPRC projects consume only 67% of resources? He stated that our priorities and

8 resource allocations are 180 degrees apart and they need to go together. He suggested that we first need to clean our priorities. Secondly, resource allocation should be accordingly directed. Then, even if good priorities exist, supporting funds from the mechanism of allocation of resources are important.

Najeeb Murtaza, World Bank He began by saying that these are the real problems of implementation as whatever money is allocated for each department, 70% relapses and is either reappropriated or presented again under new conditions. Of the 30%, 10% is what you see as results on the ground, 10% is spent uselessly and the remaining 10% goes God knows where. In order to take the environment seriously, we need to assure proper fund allocation and direction. Secondly, during project implementation, maintenance funds should be available. Usually, the infrastructure is there, but not maintained and in the end, infrastructure then goes to waste.

Shahrukh Rafi Khan, SDPI He indicated that information had been collected on environmental expenditures. Such information is needed to lobby with the Finance Minister to justify additional funding. If that information was included, on a separate line in the public sector annual plan, the change in expenditure could be tracked and expenses could seen from year to year. The percentage of the budget allocated to capacity building was much less that one percent of the small allocation. He concluded by stating that this small amount for capacity building is ridiculous.

Tariq Banuri, Tellus Tariq began by explaining the different views on all of this. He continued to explain that if more money had been allocated, it probably would have been wasted. EPRCP had lots of research money, a lot was used and it is unknown as to what is happening to that research. What we need is a way to spend more money efficiently. We don’t have GEF projects as we can’t write projects and also because we can’t spend the money. We need to focus on the capacity to spend money, not at the research level but at the implementation level. Anymore money spent on some projects would simply be wasted as the critical amount required for research has been reached.

Another important issue, he explained, is ease of implementation which has to be made easier and smoother in order for projects that have been approved at the top to filter down across all levels. Essentially, he explained, everyone needs to be on the same wavelength.

The focus needs to be on progress made with Community Based Organizations and this needs to be built on. Particularly, the municipalities, which are experiencing a lot of wastage, need to be made better informed as to their objectives and need to serve the interests of the community. He explained that

9 CBOs often get frustrated when projects and initiatives are not embraced with the same sense of urgency from the government.

He continued with the need to formalize successes and use them as a basis for moving forward, replicating the ‘essential elements’ in other situations and contexts where the same benefits can be hopefully achieved. The need for a platform was also stressed to build policy and as a means to mobilize resources effectively and efficiently. Flagship projects in organic cotton and solar energy will be important to signal successes and motivate other projects, but a platform or mission statement/objective is still required.

We can build upon Individual developments as well as CBOs and NGO activities. Finally, he mentioned that what is really needed however is buy in and support from the municipalities. At the local level, this will assist in building a platform from the ground up. Advocacy and education thus becomes a continuous process.

The major lacking elements are summarized as follows:

• Lack of implementation, plans are laid out but no one is there to follow them through. (CBOs, municipalities, players and stakeholders are not on the same wavelength). • Market incentives are required to influence the behaviour of the private Sector. Privatization has its place of course, but it needs to be monitored so that the needs of those with less buyer power are not left behind. • Is the mechanism and project being implemented usable? This will translate into its maintenance by the people involved. • Mainstream market approaches work, the question is how to proceed. • Poverty strategies must be linked to CBOs in its eradication, and working towards it, we need to learn how to do it properly, so that we avoid indirect damages and side effects. • Agriculture is critical to development strategies as it will house and feed the poor. Also, any advances that are made must put technology in the hands of the poor. • Market based incentives should be incorporated into building materials, solar energy and raw energy materials that will give resources back to the poor.

One part of our work over the past 10 years that has shown origins of progress has been working closely with the corporate sector. However, he continued, the focus on government policy has slowed down commitment and interest. That generates the basis of asking for more money.

Secondly, we need to think of the environmental agenda that focus on the community. He also stated the need to address municipalities, where despite the large amounts of money that have been going into it (urban dept. programs), there has been little progress.

10 He concluded by stating the need to look at areas where we have been successful, formalizing them and using them for future endeavours.

Tracking capacity issues which provide incentives for people is also important as very few insitutions have capacity to implement expensive projects.

According to Dr. Banuri, we need a platform that recognizes who has been successful, the larger groups and what the people of Pakistan are interested in. We need to house renewable energy projects (solar energy, organic cotton) and we need a platform to do them.

We have the momentum in the industrial areas and we should build on that. We should do the same, for the community. We have no momentum in the municipalities and we need to address that.

Lastly, he made a comment on advocacy and monsanto. Advocacy is a continuing process. A program which is constructive in some way shouldn’t stifle advocacy. It should provide a framework that can make advocacy more effective.

Must understand the platform very clearly so that action can be more effective. The platform we’re emphasizing is already built on action so that they can gain momentum.

Discussion Continued

Asif Zaidi, IUCN We need to make project proposals better but also the removal of structural bottlenecks from planning and department divisions. Also with implementation there should be communication throughout the process, especially with relevant decision makers. We should capture the factors responsible for successes and failures. NCS should remain our only child. The second will is the public will and advocacy is important here. Once we agreee on a platform to launch things, advocacy should carry the momentum through.

Aziz Bouzaher, World Bank Mr. Bouzaher represented the World Bank’s wholehearted support for the Asian Development Banks’ suggestion to look at the short, medium and long term approaches during the break out sessions. As suggested by some of the workshop attendees, he said that the focus on poverty is definitely welcome as we are re- focusing the Bank’s corporate environment strategy on contributing to poverty outcomes. He concluded by saying that the World Bank would like to see how environmental issues in Pakistan will be operationally linked to poverty. He also welcomed the proposed strategic framework in the SDPI paper which proposes a 3-part agenda: environmental health, sustainable industrial development, and

11 sustainable livelihoods. He noted the very close similarities with the Bank’s proposed framework.

Amir Mohammed, Chair Amir interjected by mentioning that not much has been said on vehicular emissions and he hoped it would be discussed in the context of the NCS.

Khawar Mumtaz of Shirkat Gah In terms of implementation of policy, she discussed political and bureaucratic will. These obstacles slow the momentum down, in her eyes, in many of the things that people assume will take their agenda forward. We need focus. Referring back to the issue of governance, and policies and action plans she said that when they are translated, inspite of everything, the importance of advocacy needs to be recognized by the governemnt for it needs to take all aspects on board to move forward at a proper rate.

Abdul Mateen Khan, SDPI Mr. Khan said that we need experience in implementing transparent processes. It should broaden ownership of the process of strategic planning through the use of working groups at the regional and provincial levels as well as specialized groups working on each idea simultaneously.

Anwar Naseem Mr. Naseem commented that the group is making recommendations without spelling out how they’ll be implemented or who will implement them.

Ali Habib, WWF Recently, the Ministry of Environment approved a document for the biodiveristy action plan and according to Mr. Habib, a couple of pages list future plans of action with short and long term goals. He suggested that photocopies be made available where relevant about what we are talking about.

Amir Mohammed, Chair He emphasized that Pakistan’s legal system is excellent, but in the end, the political and judicial will and honesty of purpose to implement laws etc. is not there.

Shahid Rahim, NEPRA He outlined his assessment of the current situation as follows; • There is a lack of integration between the national environmental agenda and the national government agenda. The two agendas are being followed in complete isolation of each other. The NCS is very important but in the government agenda, the NCS is completely missing. • There is a lack of institutional capacity. Don’t have adequate information to plan and manage sustainable development. The government hasn’t

12 planned any integrated framework at the decision making level. We can’t analyze cost and benefits of any departmental programs. The main criteria is still economics and finance not environmental considerations. • Overemphasis is on privatization. It is not a panacea for our ills, unlike what the report says, and it needs to be pursued carefully or else we might have more problems. • Include renewable energy resources missing from the agenda, The report imposes pollution taxes as a market incentive to oversee energy wastage, but the report should also address the improving of energy technology. Also, pollution incentives should be provided. Price distortions need market prices that truly reflect cost benefits of the environment.

Tariq Banuri, Tellus Tariq clarified that there is a place for privatization and market forces. They shouldn’t be seen as a panacea. The report has given selective emphasis to privatization, that’s where it belongs and can be used. In the human department, traditonal market mechanisms produce negative results. Agriculture plays an important role in the poverty mechanism. He continued by saying that agriculture is also a sector in which technology was placed at the disposal of the poor in a manner that no other technology has been. It shouldn’t be restricted to agriculture. There are other ways of providing access to technology to the poor too (energy, industry, etc).

He concluded by summarizing the following, • There is a place for market mechanisms. • Alternative approaches to diverting resources back to the poor. • Should be explicit mention of renewable energy.

Aziz Bouzaher, World Bank Although concetually desirable, it is very difficult to implement efficient economic mechanisms to reduce pollution. As yet, pollution incentives are very theoretical, but the work done in Pakistan –particularly involving industry, NGO, and GOP-- on the design of a pollution charge is very encouraging.

Asad Naqvi, SDPI Asad indicated that we don’t know the cost of environmental damages and environmental remedying and there is a need for data before taxes and charges are pursued.

Syed Jamy, IUCN Mr. Jamy drew attention to the example of the Sarhad Conservation Strategy, now in an advanced stage. There is not enough money to implement the entire strategy. They have created a sectoral and multi sectoral round table to mainstream environmental and sustainable development concerns. All

13 stakeholders, representatives, public and private were represented and it has helped inform them all.

Abdul Mateen Khan, SDPI Determining pollution charges was a consultative process. We have already agreed on a principle of calculating surcharges. We need to institutionalize the process and it stands a good chance of success.

M. Khawaja, SDPI. There are very positive signs of success in that it’s been done through a consultative process.

Najeeb Murtaza, World Bank Najeeb indicated that we need to look at the logistics of implementation.

Lunch

Breakout Sessions

Session I Sustainable Livelihoods and Natural Resource Management Chair Amir Mohammed, President of Asianics Agro Development Int’l Rap Faisal Haq Shaheen

Amir Mohammed, Chair Dr. Amir Mohammed began by stating that the poverty profile is not uniform and we need more empowerment. Connected to this is the technology required to promote organic agriculture and there is a need for its marketing. Long term action is required especially on the forestry (satellite imagery, monitoring), water, range management livestock and watershed management issues and their monitoring aspect needs to be included in the report and updated in terms of the data presented and analyzed. New forest policies are being discussed along with . poverty of resources and the overall planning and developing of policies. District staff need to be educated in order to ensure that community development approvals and projects don’t fall back to the old established power structures.

The poverty agenda needs to be private sector led as the government efforts of the past have failed and hindered progress. Furthermore, Dr. Amir Mohammed continued that we need a mechanism for taking commitment to a larger scale and such a mechanism is presently unknown.

How do NGOs, CBOs and institutions interact? We need to do this in order to create a framework and mechanism for poverty eradication and sustainable livelihoods.

14 Dr. Amir Mohammed, Chair Dr. Amir Mohammed shared his views on the eradication of poverty by saying that we need to raise income sustainably and avoid the dependance syndrome by using mechanisms that increase the income of the poor without continuing to hurt the environment.

Tariq Banuri, Tellus The green revolution technology, at the local level, did not agree with and match the local culture and therefore could not be taken to a larger scale. So how are we to do it? This agenda is already mechanized as part of the NCS. What we need to do is establish the priorities of various institutions, examine interplay and their linkages and essentially, examine how to improve productivity and reduce duplication of our mechanisms. Tariq continued by stating that the green revolution had some positive impacts because the simplicity at certain levels was adequate and that anyone could use it.

Mishka Zaman, SUNGI It is important to notice that the poor are different in profile and solutions cannot be applied in different scenarios to solve seemingly similar problems. The NCS does address the plight of the rural poor.

Tariq Banuri, Tellus There are trade offs with the green revolution, as it brought significant pollution in addition to some gains and improvements and resources have already been degraded. However, increased political will doesn’t mean we are degrading poverty. We need a radically different approach in the way of community mobilization as the machinery at the local level is inadequate (although better than anything else we have tried to work with at the local level).

So, in essence, we need community mobilization.

Naseer Tareen, Consultant Mr Tareen began by saying that if all of Pakistan’s land capacity was used, we would see productivity increase with modern technology. He also mentioned that co-operative farming has not worked in the past and should be discontinued.

In order to achieve the long term goals, we need to start at the end and work backwards by multi tasking and integrating sectors.

He then proposed the following for reducing rural poverty. • Need decisions that citizens are involved in (livelihood economies of decision making) • Need land reform. The problem is that local land lords grab the leadership and the cycle of old returns again. Sanctions and empowerment in these contexts kill.

15 • Growth should be gradual, as there is a possibility that we could build their capacity. Southern Punjab is not similar to Sindh. We need to work with local authorities and fit into what resources are available. • Land reform needs to take place, to transpose models. In order to catch problems in stride, we need an adaptive management system. • Increase income through the production and supply of high value items such as milk production and vegetables.

Naila Hussein, Shirkat Gah Naila emphasized the need to organize the community and then empower them. As policies are not in place that are conducive to this, we must place and intitiate them. It is important to tailor each model to each situation. While we may not tell the locals what to do, we at least must offer them educated and tailored alternatives.

Shahid Zia, SDPI Bengali farmers successfully phased out chemicals, increased income, increased production and increased pricing over a period of 5 years. They developed biodiversity enriching agricultural practices without hindering but rather increasing productivity and reduced their dependancy on the market.

Aziz Bouzaher, World Bank There is a huge pressure on the natural resources base of the country and a strong linkage to poverty (as a large proportion of Pakistani poor live in rural areas and depend on natural resources for their livelohoods). We need “more voice” for the poor and a tailored, community development approach. This needs to include formalizing community structures so that we can realize higher and greater scales of application. This also involves altering the power structure and empowering users, farmers, and communities.

Naila Hussein, Shirkat Gah Naila summarized her concerns as follows; • Profile of rural poverty differs. Need stocktaking of existing resources and resource sharing • Objective should be to empower communities to use resources available to them. Need an analysis of what is happening. • Need income increased. Organic farming; need packages of technology that work, otherwise the road ahead is rough. We need marketing of high value products (production to sale type of mentality). • The negatives that we need to be wary of are non progressive landlords and we need education for agricultural farmers.

Dr.Amir Mohammed, Chair Dr. Amir Mohammed then added, that if we start planning carefully, with

16 vegetables and fruits, the we can upscale to tougher, riskier crops. There are more areas which are turning a big profit. The Bengali farmers are working on varieties that actually repel insects and increase production.

Naseer Tareen, Consultant The raising of Balochistan livestocks is mis-analyzed and is not marketed. The numbers are increasing and there is increasing pressure on land grazing as well as other negative effects. We need considerable work in this area.

Microcredit issues • Not enough land to give • Use of visiting land • Institution of grazing resources • Microhydrels • Need to ask for larger packages and better resource use.

Essentially, Mr. Tareen recommended that we organize communities, provide technical assistance and establish institutions.

Mishka Zaman, SUNGI Mishka emphasized the inter dependance of communities and that larger needs can’t be supported by one community but rather institutions which will converge on one area in one forum. She also added that the better package referred to in marketing and harvesting should increase income (harvesting to marketing)

District management systems of government training programs and the civil services academy should introduce proposals. Rural Support Programs work in rural Pakistan.

Specific report comments made by the group are as follows:

The document needs a positive vision for the future. It needs to address water and forests. For example, 10% of forests are well protected, need quantitative goals that can be maintained and measured. Annual supply of wood is 6 to 7 million. Our policy to import wood from sustainably harvested timber forestries is necessary. We need swift action on this. We also need agricultural biodiversity.

• We need a collective responsibility for and ownership for Pakistan, from the World Bank, government and the civil society.

• Monitoring issue needs to be covered so that we can account for data and collection. There has been a gap in the past.

• Satellite imagery for creation of benchmarks and monitoring.

• We need institution building and capacity building at some levels still.

17 Government needs to stop talking about it and do it, especially at the municipal level. Also, we need more NGO activity in poverty erradication as we have seen government efforts fail repeatedly.

Dr. Amir Mohammed Water issues, both inland and shoreline, are massive areas of concern and needs coverage. Agricultural runoff, and the high cost of resources is taking its toll. There seems to be no intention of succession and the old department will continue its current path. Dr. Amir Mohammed continued to say that we need to associate with other disciplines and work on water contamination, water logging and salinity issues. This is affecting fisheries, which are doing poorly due to municipal waste in the harbours and increased ship traffic. Fish harvesting is now becoming impossible within the current harbour marine environment.

Session II Sustainable Industrial and Energy Developments Chair Asif Shujah Khan, Director General, Environmental Protection Agency Rap Abdul Mateen Khan

Asif Shujah Khan, Chair Asif opened up the seminar by indicating that the results of the breakout sessions are designed to prepare for the implementation of an already existing strategy. The increase in emissions in Pakistan is due to industry. At present, the level of emissions is up 11.9% and consumption up to 16% of TOE. Every year, emissions increase by 1%, and we forecast levels to be at 17.4% by the year 2010.

The goal is to sustainably develop export led growth.(Comments: other areas also and not only exports should be focussed on).

To achieve: Market based instruments and pollution charges etc. Provisions of fiscal incentives Mainstreaming of environmental programs.

Recommendations

• Effective implementation of the NEQS Prioritize process due to cost factor • Scale is already graduated. It is manageable and industry has already agreed to support it. • Does NEQS represent a license to pollute? They are anyways and after year 6, it will be cheaper to clean than to pollute. • Collective benefit to industry. • NEQS and ESC proceedings, Now a common man can get protection from the law via the Environmental Tribunals. • Factors

18 Awareness Environmental projects have an economic rationale; Absenteeism being reduced as health improves International factors such as requirements of ISO in various contracts with customers requires an environmental forum. • Cost of clean production is high • Proper conditions need to be created. Waste management and recycling first. This would create a demand for start up and the supply side is ready.

Would PEP EPAs have a capacity for auditing a given percentage of returns?

Abdul Mateen Khan, SDPI We need broader participation from specialist groups.

Shahid Rehman of NEPRA • Integration of NCS and 5 year plan even within the 2010 program is not properly planned. • Institutional capacities need to be built • Over emphasis on privatization • Renewable energy needs to be included • Pollution charges and incentives/market based economic instruments

Tariq Banuri, Tellus Comments on privatization Agricultural factor and technological provision is necessary to provide help for the poor. We need institutional arrangements to support such goals.

Gul Najam Jamy, IUCN New institutions need not be created. Sectoral approach is recommended.

Najeeb Murtaza, World Bank World Bank is publishing a report on the case study in Columbia. It is relevant to market based instruments.

Asif Shuhah Khan, Chair Pollution levels will have to checked after a specified time on a continuous, periodic basis.

Saadat Ali We need to apply pressure on industry to conform to NEQS standards.

19 Atta Mohammed There is the WTO factor. As far as restrictions due to health and now the environment are concerned. The market may also impose restrictions and increased awareness and a pollution charge would help in achieving the success of such instruments. Self monitoring is also an option, to create an environment for whistle blowing.

Shahid Rahim, NEPRA Emission permits is also an alternative

Javed Ali Khan, Exxon Self monitoring will work in Pakistan for fear of mutual competition and requiring that data be made available.

Iqbal of ICI We would support the self monitoring system

Shahrukh Rafi Khan, SDPI • Public information is a very good idea. A rating scheme for individual units can be put in place.

MAK Price will not be raised due to pollution charge Self monitoring will create way for Pollution Charges, but how will Pollution Charges clean industry? The permit scheme is not recommended.

Abdul Mateen Khan, SDPI Support will be given by larger industry to smaller ones who will eventually fall in line. Sampling not a big problem for liquid effluents but air pollution and point source discharges may be a problem. Industry should start with commitment.

Zehra Abbas Self Monitoring feedback is necessary and the system needs to be wary of the hiding of information (e.g. tax system). EPAs should develop capacity to guide and/or to audit self monitoring systems.

MAK Certification is essential from some independent monitoring body. First liquid effluents should be monitored and then gaseous. EPA capacity building will take a long time. Incentives: reduction in taxes and duties

Tariq Banuri, Tellus If you don’t pollute, you don’t pay. Polluter should not have an advantage over non - polluters. Shell International’s views, given clear and advance signals, it serves as incentives as well.

20 Abdul Mateen Khan, SDPI Actual lack of capacity is delaying the implementation of techniques and the flow of information and advanced levels of knowledge

Tariq Banuri, Tellus Industry wants incentives on pollution control equipment and clean fuels/low emmission fuels.

Asif Qureshi, SDPI A common platform from the Ministry of Petroleum and the Ministry of Environment will emerge after some discussion.

Asif Shujah Khan, Chair Fuel price is also an issue

Shahrukh Rafi Khan, SDPI Dirty fuel is being subsidized (diesel) and we are subsidizing public transport. World Bank has expertise on restructuring the petroleum industry (Egypt) and this should be drawn upon.

Javed Ali Khan, Exxon There is no difference between the two ministries (Environment and Petroleum).

Shahid Rahim, NEPRA Diesel subsidy is being given to 150, 000 tube wells for diesel in Gujranwalla which are having a serious environmental impact

Tarq Banuri, Tellus Energy efficiency should also be worked towards. An efficient industry is economical and low in consumption

Javed Ali Khan, Exxon Enercon is raising awareness and education. Economics will take care of the rest.

Institutions

Shahid Rahim, NEPRA Planning division should consider improving efficiency before sanctioning a new project.

Asif Qureshi, SDPI Renewable energy options should also be considered by the following: • MoS&T for renewable energy • Enercon (MOE) • Director General Energy Resources and SDPI • MOW&PWR

21 • NEPRA, which should develop an overall national integrated policy on environmental and energy.

MAK There should be an institution like ESC for every issue. Ie a tri partite forum.

Asif Shujah Khan, Chair NGOs need to be partners and part of this process. Resource mobilization also needs to take place but the question becomes, how do we generate funds?

Shahrukh Rafi Khan, SDPI We should not depend on loans. Public sector programs should allocate funds for environment.

PT Environment is a defined sector in government accounts. It was done independently. Lack of capacity to develop projects is the issue.

Shahrukh Rafi Khan, SDPI But it does not show up as a sector in the Public Sector Development Program.

Javed Ali Khan, Exxon NGOs and private sector should help government in preparing projects. Linkage between Governments and NGOs

PT There are many difficulties that are encountered in implementing Pollution Charges. Perhaps NGOs and the private sector could assist in the process.

Javed Ali Khan, Exxon There is a totally separate budget for the environment.

Monitoring

JOINT Governments, NGOs and Institutions.

• Pollution charges • Self monitoring • Awareness short term to continuous • Promotion of ISO system medium term to long term • Capacity building of regulatory bodies continuous • Incentives ongoing • Clean fuels and renewable energy medium term to long term • Education on energy efficiency short term to medium term • Institutions short term to continuous • MOS&T short term

22 • ECNEC decision short term • Resource short term • Environment head • Monitoring short term to continuous

• Specific report comments: good framework

Session III Environmental Health and the Quality of Life Chair Khawar Mumtaz, Shirkat Gah Rap Fareeha Iqbal

Khawar Mumtaz, Chair Khawar initiated the discussion by stating that Solid Waste management within the urban centers should be looked at more closely. Also, we need the monitoring of health statistics. In terms of quality of life, etc. there should be more biological monitoring to give an idea of the genetic diseases being carried.

Tariq Banuri, Tellus The data on health that is currently available is very poor. WHO/NHS statistics are very poor. The number of incidences of communicable diseases in developing countries is consistently on the rise; about 10 to 20 times more on a per capita basis for Pakistan as compared to developed countries.

Anwar Nasim Damage and its costs needs to be assessed. The health aspects need to be looked at more closely in terms of quality of life. The burden of disease also must be examined. Before tackling pollution, etc., we need to deal with the biological disease factors. There is a much higher rate of children dying under 5 years than of higher ages, mostly due to water borne diseases.

There needs to be a balancing of costs of remediation vs. cost of damage. This will be very difficult. There is a lot of raw data, from which everyone jumps to conclusions without really knowing the measurements or what it all means. This forces people to look away from the critical issues such as water quality, sanitation, etc. and focus on trivial issues. Even scientists need to be educated in processing environmental information. We can’t measure ambient environmental pollution the way developed countries do. We must use surrogate markers.

Tariq Banuri, Tellus If we have consensus on selected indicators, that focuses the mind of independent researchers, we can then work with imperfect data and create a demand for it to refine the data. To a certain extent, there will be repetitions. This doesn’t matter, but the data should be comparable. Thus we should agree on a set of indicators and use them for a certain period of time. Some simple things can be started

23 early, without increasing institutional support; certain kinds of data can be measured immediately which may prove very useful later.

Nuvaid Not too much data within the report. It would be useful to list what’s available even in terms of anecdotal data. We need baseline data on urban and rural areas.

Tariq Banuri, Tellus There is an annex on data sources in the report.

Nuvaid In his perspective, there is not enough mention of issue of depletion of urban water resources. As groundwater table starts depleting, mid size cities will be affected. The first demand of people in Punjab’s rural areas is solid waste management. Linkage with water because solid waste chokes drains. The major problem is waste disposal - lacks primary treatment. Raw sewage is pumped into water canals. As water supply increases, there are not enough outlets to get rid of municipal waste water. There is a fairly intricate relation between these issues, addressing them and government institutions. The report needs to recognize the way these issues are addressed.

One indicator could be f. coliforms in water. There are many reasons for their presence. Everything but this has been measured; f. coliforms are not being measured at all. It is more important than measuring potential carcinogens like carbon. Cheap technical methods can be used. There are no labs measuring f. coliforms at any level. They’re measuring coliform but it’s not enough.

Khawar Mumtaz, Chair High priority issues include • Water quality • Waste water disposal • Solid waste disposal • Air quality • Monitoring Can assess water quality on the spot • Pesticides • Wastewater for irrigation • Food quality

Most critical for Pakistan from the point of view of diseases is the measurement of f. coliform. A very high proportion of mortalities are due to f. coliforms in water. So the measurement of f. coliform should be the highest priority. But we need information on other factors, as they are all interlinked.

24 If simpler factors can be identified, an effective start could be made immediately. Also, regional indicators have to be taken into account. All existing indicators are biased towards urban quality. There should be local indicators that people can see each week in the newspaper, which will generate interest and spur some action.

General Discussion, Water Quality WHO standards are being used. Municipalities (such as CDA) have monitoring labs at the water sources but not at the point of consumption. This should be done on a continuous basis at selected distribution points. We need to identify appropriate indicators for the afore-mentioned 7 areas for monitoring

We need to make monitoring mandatory and enforce external quality checks. Usually, CDA randomly monitors quality every 2 to 3 months, but the data is not reported to any agency. Monitoring should be done regularly and consistently and accurately reported. Water supply utilities should be doing their own quality monitoring - although the public wouldn’t trust data put out by an independent agency. Which lab is an independent institution and trusted by the people?

Existing institutes have performed badly in the past. Responsibility should be clearly designated and data should be externally checked and perhaps endorsed by the government. The issue is then how do we make a monitoring/watchdog system. Information should be going somewhere where it can be verified and then made public. It was suggested that perhaps this could that be the task of provincial EPAs. There are many instances where official reports were suppressed re: diseases etc. because they reflected badly on regional authorities Perhaps one agency could be made responsible for providing indicators and one responsible for the cross checking the data. For water, the agencies could be WAPA or EPA.

Air quality monitoring should rest only with the EPA – which is presently not doing its job. Need someone provincially to make EPA deliver on its functions. They have equipment and funds, but nothing gets done. Why don’t they deliver? One option suggested in discussing these problems is to recommend an approach where people can access and question data. The provincial EPAs should be put under a kind of public / private board that holds them accountable.

Khawar Mumtaz, Chair We should look upon environmental health generically. We need to identify issues, look for checks, and see how information can be made public.

There should be a set of indicators for each of the 7 issues identified. Also, agencies should be identified that are responsible for looking after these issues and there is a need for other agencies to monitor these agencies.

The way forward is to pick one urban and one rural area and use these for a pilot study. EPAs should be used and within them a public/private board should be

25 created so that there’s some accountability and transparency provided for and to citizens.

NWFP EPA is lacking in powers and capacity, and handles very large data quantities. Existing institutes need to be made more accountable through an overseeing body. It was also suggested that a set of measurable indicators be drawn up so that these can be made at any locale. We need regional data, but it must be compatible.

Some environmental indicators are highly sophisticated. For example, in Pakistan there isn’t a single ambient-ozone measuring facility (in ppm). Furthermore, a lot of environmental monitoring has to de-mystified, and shown that it is actually quite simple, and can be done locally. It was pointed out that we are not doing the basics, (e.g., certain types of monitoring are simple enough to involve schoolchildren in).

It was also added that there should be standardized data monitoring and collection methods. A watchdog mechanism is necessary through which public/private boards get reported to periodically. This needs to be done at the local level (on a pilot basis) in the beginning.

The issues was then raised as to who should do the monitoring in rural areas. It should be a joint effort between the public sector agency and civil society. Water was being provided by public health agencies. Now it is increasingly being done by communities themselves. So the body responsible for provision of water should also be responsible for monitoring.

But, the EPA does not normally operate in rural areas. as it does not have the capacity.

Local communities that have taken charge of water provision would be able to do simple testing – probably they would be keen to do it, as it is in their own interest. Educational institutions could also participate. The EPA has to be the data repository at the provincial level.

Tea

Afternoon Session, Chair, Omar Asghar Khan, Minister of Environment, Local Government and Rural Development

Breakout Reports to Plenary

Next Steps and Vote of Thanks, Shahrukh Rafi Khan, Executive Director, SDPI

26 Shahrukh Rafi Khan, SDPI The Objectives of the report included the following • It was supposed to assist in providing material for the National Conservation Strategy Mid Term Review • It was also supposed to provided recommendations for the Ministry for its own strategic thinking on the issue. • It is hoped as a result that their processes will continue to provide momentum to the PEPC in pushing ahead with the environmental agenda.

General Remarks

Pakistan is not in a position to take more loans. We need to put strategies into place that will tap into existing monies that are available.

Good policies tend to be cheap and emphasis needs to be on them. Cheap in the sense that they are easy to employ and do not require high levels of technical knowledge or know how. Transportation, water subsidies etc. need to be removed and individual incentives created for the right institutional behavior from an environmental perspective.

Specific Remarks related to PEPC

For 130 million people, 2 tribunals is not enough. We need continuous monitoring to be put in place to manage and monitor the meeting of objectives and goals through milestone identification and benchmarking. Technical members need to be appointed.

The time has come for action. The EPA has the capacity to audit a reasonable amount of returns and attach a pollution charge.

We also need to notify the NEQS and how their work will come into play. There should be no further delay on the imposition of the pollution charge as a system is warranted. We would like to see some progress made in an area where technical assistance could be solicited. We need discussions on the use of clean fuels. Also, institutionalization of the monitoring of the PEPC is needed. Members need to be informed of the actions and be allowed to input on proceedings. A future agenda item might include data collection and annual assessment.

Chair’s Concluding Remarks, Omar Asghar Khan, Minister of Environment, Local Government and Rural Development

The Minister opened by stating that there is now space to get the environmental agenda moving within Pakistan. WTO meetings in Seattle saw civil society mobilize, advise and provide input to the government on Pakistan’s positions. Civil society needs to build on this leadership.

27 We also need to open up government related information pathways and lines of communication. The Government also has a strong emphasis on poverty reduction, deprivation and this must be dealt with. Degradation is caused more by the state, its actions, and lack of clarity on property rights. This matches government approach to devolution. What is done in this report is very important for government policy. Models exist already which address key items and can be worked on.

We also need cost effective projects. There is a need for a stronger environmental movement throughout all sectors. Pressure causes the government to do something about the problems. The government needs to be careful about accepting projects. For example, whether they are done on areas of renewables , solar power etc. These are new areas and solutions to key problems. Growth needs to be for poor people and there is a strong linkage between growth and poverty. Need to create an environment where the government can bring resources into play.

The Minister emphasized that Export Led Growth needed to be looked at and tied into the equation. Important issue is looking at our own social, political and economic structures; state agencies and their responses.

Large groups manipulate the system and damage the environment. Key issues that need to be seen include the following:

• Land sales and distribution in urban areas is a difficult issue to address and needs to mobilize the community. • Government needs to give space to the people. NGOs are imperative and need to support people’s movements whether if royalty purchase or fishermen etc. which have been neglected. • Work needs to be done on government packages. NCS and WB support Pakistan’s environment program and there is a need to decentralize these programs. • The institutional framework is needed to support the people and the local level for these projects and for this the government and • NGOs need to work together. NCS needs to be looked at carefully to decentralize its actions now. More localized action, but policies and frameworks to support it. • Need to look at our own socio economic political structures. Unless we have institutional arrangements and a legal framework there is a danger that the large interest groups will manipulate the system, whether regarding land, water or natural resources.