ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Monday emphasised on need to revitalise the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation to combat climate change.
Speaking at the SAARC Regional Workshop on Climate Data Analysis for Agricultural Drought Monitoring in South Asia here, Director General South Asia and SAARC at Ministry of Foreign Affairs Dr Mohammed Faisal said SAARC summit should be held in Islamabad at the earliest.
The aim of launching the monitoring system is to create resilience in agriculture system of the region against the adverse impacts of rapid climate changes that are taking place across the globe.
The other objective of establishing the monitoring system is to strengthen the coordination among the member states to develop a common strategy to conserve the natural resources like soil, water, energy and forest for making this part of the globe safer for human beings.
The establishment of drought monitoring outlook system would help to safe the agriculture system form the adverse impact of droughts and its impacts of agriculture and livestock sectors.
SAARC Summit is held in different South Asian nations, every 12-18 months. The first SAARC Summit was held in Bangladesh, in 1985. The SAARC Summit, in 2016, was to be held in Pakistan but India boycotted following the Uri attack that killed 19 Indian soldiers in held Kashmir.
The SAARC summit 2016 was finally cancelled as Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Afghanistan and Maldives followed India’s decision to boycott the summit.
