Wealth belongs to individual, and resources belong to society: Dr. Abid Qaiyum Suleri

ISLAMABAD, Nov 22 (SABAH): Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) Executive Director Dr. Abid Qaiyum Suleri has said that we need to promote the slogan that wealth belongs to an individual, but resources belong to the society and the concept of sustainable production and sustainable consumption is to promote social justice.

He was speaking at a session titled: “Sustainable Consumption and Production in the context of Circular Economy and Climate Agenda”, on the second day of 26th Sustainable Development Conference on Wednesday organized by Sustainable Development Policy Institute here on Wednesday.

Dr. Suleri said that there is an abundance of policies with regard to production and consumption, but their implementation is less than desired. Emphasizing on learning from successful sustainable production and sustainable consumption models, he said that more emphasis is given to production but consumption is equally important.

Sanjay Vashist from CANCA, India, stressed the need for holding discussion among stakeholders, including the government, civil society, policy makers and private sector in the context of sustainable production and sustainable consumption.

Dr. Ali Kamal, representative from SGDs Task Force, said we need to use our resources responsibly as according to available data we waste 36-million-ton food annually. He added that for sustainable growth and production we need to minimize the use of natural resources and material in a manner which is socially beneficial particularly from environment point of view.

Engineer Abdul Jabbar, Member of SDPI Board of Governors, said circular economy and circularity is the old concept but efficiency is the key in the context of production. There is huge wastage of resources as according to estimates, an individual on average wastes 65 kg food per annum while instead of controlling, it is increasing, therefore waste management is the issue which demands special attention.

Amir Khan Goraya, Assistant Resident Representative, UNDP, questioned what exactly the use of resources is being spent on distribution if there is no recycling and it will end up in the same place. He also highlighted the significance of carbon footprint recognition in the context of efficiency and stressed upon incentivizing sustainable production and devising sustainable consumption.

Speaking at the launch of his report titled: “Human Security in Pakistan” Dr Hafiz Pasha, the former federal minister for finance, has said that security must be analyzed keeping in view the universal and people-centric nature and must not be evaluated in terms of arms. Dr Pasha said that external financial vulnerability indicator is of critical importance for Pakistan to assess the threat to human security. “Between the years 2020-2022, Pakistan witnessed massive decline in human security indices and in the last two years 41% increase in the food prices was witnessed which significantly undermines food security and nutritional security of the people”. “The black hole in Pakistan’s economy is the energy sector, due to unbelievable levels of line losses and rising energy prices”, he said while identifying key areas which undermine human security in the country. He went on to say that the divergence in development among the provinces is the other major issue, with the biggest problem being Balochistan where the per capita income has declined by 30-35% in the past two decades.

Dr. Hamza Ali Malik, Director, Macroeconomic Policy and Financing for Development, UNESCAP, said “there are two birth defects that Pakistan still confronts; one is the confusion as if we are a nation or Islamic state and the second being the type of government structure”. Unless the core issues are resolved, course correction for policies is impossible and policy fatigue will continue without yielding optimal results. Going forward, Pakistan needs collaborative, corrective measures designed by economists and social scientists if the inequalities have to be addressed.

Rana Kaiser Ishaque, Assistant Resident Representative, UNDP, said that human security lies on building human capacity and is threatened by environmental hazards and biodiversity, political unrest, socio-economic disparities, technological havocs, which must be addressed to avert human security risks.

Dr. Aisha Ghaus Pasha, former minister of state for finance and revenue, said the kind of reforms implemented in Pakistan are hitting the people hard, but no reforms to curtail twin deficit of taxing the powerful segments and massive burden of recurring expenditures, pensions, and addressing privileges remain eluded due to lack of political will. She sought structural reforms for addressing the twin deficit, reducing import burden and behavioural changes by public to support these reforms.

Dr. Moeed Yusuf, former National Security Advisor, said that the first national security policy of Pakistan came in 2022 that focuses on ensuring that the most vulnerable people are safe, secure, have decent employment and their dignity is protected for economic security. “The pre-requisite of implementation is to have a benchmark to evaluate the implementation and the consolidation of indicators by Dr Hafeez Pasha is the next logical step”.

Dr. Niels Hegewisch from FES said the report is very timely in the face of significant climate devastation and economic turmoil. He expressed the hope that this report would influence upcoming party manifestos, fostering a new consensus to tackle Pakistan’s multifaceted challenges.

Ali Khizar from Business Recorder remarked that Pakistan is getting poorer and projected indices related to human capital, education, technical skills suggest that the situation will worsen. He called for re-evaluation of national priorities, devolution of further subjects to provinces and course correction of structural policies to address unsustainable debt challenge.

At a session “Celebrating a Legacy: HDF’s 25 years of Transforming Communities,” Dr. Adil Najam, President of WWF International, said that hope must come from the efforts a person made and the ideas; sometimes our obsession with the achievements overshadows our efforts, therefore the journey of learning as what human development is, must continue. He said that in simplest terms, human development is the answer to the question: ‘How are you?’ “The answer to the question would be in three categories, Health, Wealth and Knowledge. This is what human development is,” he said.

Dr. Tariq Banuri from the University of Utah, US, said that human development provides us with a framework on how to resolve problems. He recalled his meeting with Dr Mohammad Younis and quoted him saying: “I did never wanted to do it (microfinace); I just wanted to make people’s lives better.”

CEO of Human Development Foundation Mehboob ul Haq said that he was not here merely to celebrate HDF’s 25th anniversary, rather to reaffirm their commitment to unwavering the cause of human development. “The past 25 years have been a journey of remarkable achievements. Still our work is far from finished, and we must continue to strive”, he said.

Afterwards, tributes were paid to Dr. Pervez Tahir, renowned economist. His wife Dr. Nadia Tahir was invited to say a few words on the life of her late husband. She said that late Tahir was a man, who truly believed in transforming communities. She quoted him as saying: “If you want to work for people, then you have to live the way they are living their lives.”

Earlier, SDPI and HDF signed an MoU to explore the potential of carbon markets in the country. The signing ceremony took place during the session. A documentary was also played highlighting HDF’s achievements and future projects.

At another session on “Climate-resilient and Low-carbon Health Systems: Strengthening Partnerships for Impact”, experts said that intersectoral coherence among the federal and provincial entities along with consistency in policy initiatives is imperative to ensure the country’s climate health resilience.

Former Health Minister Dr. Zafar Mirza enunciated the intricacies of climate change and the complex interplay between the health impacts of environmental degradation impacts. He said that climate change had emerged as an all-encompassing determinant of health in recent times. He recommended that climate change has to be integrated into the healthcare organizations, policy systems and institutions relevant to the field. Dr. Mirza said the issues like smog has different sources but almost all of them are manmade and preventable.

Dr. Mahwish Hayee from OPM said that Pakistan highlighted that the country lacked robust greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) registries critical for guiding scientific evidence related to carbon emissions of the country.

Dr. Hassan Bin Hamza, Policy and Planning Lead at HPSIU – Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination said globally Pakistan has no contribution to climate change or is not among top ten biggest polluter countries. However, the transport sector in the country has highest carbon emissions indicating inefficient transport system directly casting impacts on health.

Dr. Sohail Safdar, Social Safety Expert, said health system is a system of systems where low carbon health system will have to consider manufacturers, and pharmaceuticals. The ministry of industries, international trade organization and sustainable practices need to be worked out as the country lacked proper taxonomies in industries that can identify weak and less efficient systems.

Dr. Robert Marten, AHPSR, WHO, Switzerland via video link said many countries are struggling with knowing that what is a climate resilient health infrastructure and system whereas Pakistan is at the forefront of global negotiations on the subject.

At another session on ”Climate-Smart Food Systems: Enhancing Sustainability, Supply Chains, and Consumer Welfare”, experts called for providing proper climate resilient policies, plans, training, technology, and state-of-the-art machinery to the farmers to enhance per acre yield thereby ensuring their profitability on sustainable basis.

Dr. Akmal Siddique, Technical Advisor, Ministry of National Food Security and Research, said the county’s agriculture especially farming is not much profitable and it needs to make profits on sustainable basis. He pointed out that modern agriculture is not a cup of tea for any farmer as it requires government policies, strategies, investment in research and development.

Nazish Shekka, senior research associate with Pakistan Business Council said women, being in-charge of their households, can play vital role in building resilience against climate change impacts.

Shakeb Elahi from USSEC said by embracing climate smart food system, the environmental impact will not only mitigate but will also pave the way for a more resilient and eco-friendly future.