Celina Ali
Islamabad: Federal Minister for Climate Change and Environmental Coordination Dr Musadik Malik has called for a shift from lengthy procedures and development jargon to swift, practical and community-based action to address the challenges confronting Pakistan’s climate-vulnerable cities and disadvantaged communities.
The minister made the remarks during a meeting with Ms Oddy Angelo, UN-Habitat Officer from Bolivia, during which the two sides discussed urban development, climate resilience, water and sanitation, flood management and targeted interventions for vulnerable communities.
Dr Malik stressed that policies, development programmes and international cooperation must ultimately translate into tangible projects on the ground, warning against delays that prevent communities from benefiting from available resources and expertise.
“We need impactful work. Bring effective policy input, we will collaborate and get it done,” the minister said, urging stakeholders to cut unnecessary delays and focus on implementation.
He said Pakistan needed practical solutions rather than further jargon, particularly in communities struggling with contaminated water, recurrent flooding, inadequate sanitation and weak urban infrastructure.
“One project can change the lives of many,” Dr Malik said, calling for initiatives that are community-based, self-sustaining and capable of being replicated in other parts of the country.
The minister noted that considerable work had already been undertaken by government institutions, international organisations and development partners, but said many successful initiatives remained scattered and their impact had not been adequately documented or demonstrated.
He stressed the need to identify effective interventions, demonstrate measurable results and scale up successful models so they could eventually become part of a broader national agenda.
Dr Malik specifically highlighted the need for practical interventions such as water treatment plants in areas affected by contaminated water, flood-resilience projects and improved basic urban services for vulnerable populations.
National Urban Strategy to be fast-tracked
The minister also directed greater focus towards rapidly moving the National Urban Strategy from policy formulation to implementation, stressing stronger coordination among government institutions, UN agencies, development partners, local authorities and communities.
He said urban policies must be translated into projects that directly improve living conditions and strengthen the resilience of cities and communities facing growing climate-related risks.
Dr Malik also proposed launching a business and innovation idea competition for Pakistan’s youth to encourage them to develop practical solutions to national challenges.
The proposed competition could invite ideas in areas including climate change, public safety, vulnerable cities, flood management, technology and innovation, water and sanitation, and green industries.
The minister said Pakistan’s young people possessed the creativity and talent needed to contribute to solving the country’s most pressing challenges, but they needed platforms through which their ideas could be transformed into practical initiatives.
The meeting also underscored the importance of ensuring that development resources ultimately reach the communities for which they are intended, while giving local populations a meaningful role in designing, implementing and sustaining projects.
Dr Malik said Pakistan did not lack ideas or talent; the real requirement was to move faster from ideas to implementation, from isolated projects to scalable models and from policy discussions to solutions capable of producing visible improvements in people’s lives.
He reiterated that the success of development interventions should ultimately be measured by a simple benchmark: less delay, more delivery and tangible improvements for climate-vulnerable communities.
