New agreement calls for the creation of provincial committees to foster emissions reductions and put the Pakistani national climate change policy into action. During the first meeting of the National Climate Change Policy Implementation Committee held in late April, an agreement was reached in Pakistan to establish climate change sections within the Federal Planning Commission and the five provincial governments as well as the Pakistan-administered territory of Azad Jammu & Kashmir. These committees will have the task to coordinate climate change policy and funding, and their plans will be transmitted to the Green Climate Fund, which hopefully will support their implementation. Pakistan’s national climate change policy (NCCP) formally entered into force in 2012, but it has never been enforced due to political crises and the focus on the fight against terrorism. The policy roughs out nearly 120 actions to tackle climate change; among them, water conservation, the development of climate-resilient crop varieties and the building of flood-resilient infrastructures are deemed as more urgent. The creation of the provincial committees is clearly a sign of commitment of the federal government to the fight against climate change, but the federal government can not cope with global warming by itself, which is why cooperation from the provincial governments will be critical: acting in the light of the policy recommendations, provinces will have to update the climate change ministry periodically on their progress, and will have to deliver detailed plans regarding the financial mechanism required to implement their policy actions. According to Sardard Adul Nabi, senior chief for energy at the Sindh provincial Planning and Development Department, all of Pakistan is suffering from the effects of climate change; therefore, “no provincial government can afford to ignore such weather patterns, and (we) need to make all socio-economic sectors adaptive to them”. The gLAWcal Team POREEN project Monday, 4 May 2015 (Source: Reuters)