Govt taking all-out measures for environment protection in GB: Amin Aslam.

ISLAMABAD -- Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Climate Change, Malik Amin Aslam on Thursday said that the government is taking all-out measures to help Gilgit-Baltistan government to overcome challenges of environmental degradation, solid waste, climate change and deforestation.

He expressed these views during his meeting with the Chief Minister of Gilgit-Baltistan at the Climate Change Ministry held here on Thursday. 'Prime Minister Imran Khan-led government is aware of the exacerbating challenges being faced by the climate-vulnerable region of Gilgit-Baltistan, which have led to negative fallouts for various social and economic sectors particularly water, energy and agriculture,' Malik Amin Aslam said. While referring to various climate change and environment-related studies of the Pakistan Meteorological Department, Malik Amin Aslam highlighted that over recent years, the global warming-caused events of glacial melting, glacial lake outburst floods, riverine floods and shifting rainfall patterns have shown rising frequency and intensity, affecting badly not only socio-economic lives of the region but also those in the southern parts of the country.

Meanwhile, sharing about deleterious impacts of environmental degradation and climate change, the Gilgit-Baltistan chief minister informed the Prime Minister's aide Malik Amin Aslam that lack of alternative to fuelwoods, which is mined from the local forest areas, have led to massive tree-felling unabated since long.

Besides, galloping human populations in the region and mass tourism, characterised by unsustainable tourism practices, have proved devastating for the Gilgit-Baltistan region's once pristine, serene and untainted environment and polluting the turquoise river waters with solid waste, the Gilgit-Baltistan chief minister Mohammad Khalid Khursheed...