ISLAMABAD: Minister for Climate Change Senator Sherry Rehmanat 1st National Plastic Action Partnership Steering Committee and National Stakeholders Consultation workshop on Plastics Free Rivers and Seas for South Asia (PLEASE) addressing stakeholders from across country and abroad on strengthening innovation and coordination of circular economy solution to plastic pollution flowing through Pakistani rivers, mainly Indus River called for urgent need for creation of incentives for end users of single-use plastics in society, as plastic pollution is one of most significant barriers towards on-going and future environmental interventions.  

She emphasised, “While we can force penalties in some areas and ban single use plastics, penalties alone are not solution. There won’t be a shift towards a plastic-free society no matter how much we speak about it or use right jargon on circularity of economy if we don’t address basic issues. In near future, there will be more plastics in seas than fish and Pakistan’s ocean and seas will be most exposed. Right now, we are in public-private partnerships with Coca-Cola to clean up Malir River. But these are cleanups and there are not he cycles that will lead to ridding our environment and our water bodies of polluting plastics.” She said that people are ingesting microplastics everyday through consumption of seafood, making it a crisis of our own creation that impacts our nutrition through plastic pollution.

“Law making itself won’t be enough to tackle this and there is a need to create a better governance structure.” Appreciating data and analyses stakeholders shared she remarked, “To find solutions and interventions that incentivise poor segments of society, mainly lower income quintile group at bottom of social pyramid, think how poor think and you will end plastic problem.” Once you give them a viable, circular economy they can buy-in to without spending a huge fortune, that will help kickstart process.  

Highlighting urgency of matter, she said, “Pakistan is facing largest climate event of century as there is no example in living memory of 33 million people affected by a single catastrophe.”

Published in The Daily National Courier, October, 14 2022

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