KARACHI: Pakistan Red Crescent Society (PRCS), Sindh, on Thursday held a coordination meeting with renowned religious scholars and other stakeholders at a local hotel to raise awareness about climate change.
The event was presided by the Chairman PRCS-Sindh Mrs. Shahnaz S. Hamid and attended by former Federal Minister and Chairman of Al-Mustafa Welfare Society Haji Muhammad Hanif Tayyab, Mufti Muhammad Zubair, Maulana Abdul Waheed, Qazi Ahmed Noorani, Maulana Muhammad Salafi, Maulana Tanveer-ul-Haq Thanvi, Dr Mohsin Naqvi, Secretary Council of Islamic Ideology Dr Ikram ul Haq, besides a large number of renowned religious scholars from different sects and people from different professions.
The purpose of this coordination meeting was to get the encouragement and consent of religious scholars to help inform the public about climate change and its effects through their Friday sermons and other addresses.
Chairman Mrs. Shahnaz said that PRCS had joined the cause with the collaboration of its partner national Society-Germany and adopting the community-based approach. “Our commitment to climate change starts with the launch of Climate Advocacy and Coordination for Resilient Action (CACRA), which gives our team an opportunity to ascertain our unified commitment for working on climate change adaptation,” she added.
“We must increase resilience against it by building adaptive capacity, but the most imperative part is to develop awareness campaigns for behavioural change,” said Chairman. Mrs. Shahnaz further said that Karachi and Lahore are among the most polluted cities in the world with the worst air quality, so now climate change should be everyone’s priority.
She uttered that the role of Ulema in raising awareness about climate change is of paramount importance and will be even more critical in the years to come. This challenge could be effectively tackled if the Ulema sensitizes the public in their Jumma sermons. “Based on the discussion with participants, we can start a climate change campaign by adopting a park,” suggested Chairman PRCS-Sindh.
Mufti Zubair and others also appreciated the PRCS initiative and vowed to provide assistance in any way that they could. “The PRCS deserves the highest accolade for creating awareness among the public about this serious environmental problem,” said Haji Muhammad Hanif Tayyab.
The coordination meeting was also attended by the representatives of NED University, Karachi University, Bahria University, Institute of Oceanography Pakistan, Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA), Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA), Pakistan Boy Scouts Association, Federal Civil Defense Training School, Pakistan Meteorological Department, Urban Forest, and seniors journalists from various media houses.