Launching Ceremony and National Workshop on Development of M&E Adaptation Tracking System

Different stakeholders participated today in the workshop and focus group discussions. Participants were from different national and local organizations from academia, research think-tanks, donors and government institutions such as NUST, Comsats Islamabad, University of Agriculture Peshawer, Asian Development Bank, WWF, Pakistan Council of Research and Water, National Disaster Management Authority of Pakistan, Planning and Development Balochistan, Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives, Ministry of Water and Resources, National Bank of Pakistan, Food and Agriculture Organization, and Pakistan Agricultural Research Council.

The Chief Guest was Mr. Ahmed Kamal-Chairman Federal Flood Commission and Chair Adaptation Committee. He thanked the organizers for their efforts, and reiterated the importance of climate change adaptation, especially in the water and agriculture sector. He emphasized the importance of building partnerships for research and sharing best practices, lessons learned on climate change adaptation and mitigation.
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Mr. Arif Goheer (Head of Agriculture and Coordinator-GCISC) welcomed the audience and explained the Adaptation M&E system project that is managed by GCISC with GIZ support. The objectives of the project are to strengthen the national adaptation M&E system in Pakistan by developing a roadmap for its future setup, based on a pilot project of the agriculture sector, capacity building of national institutions on M&E adaptation systems, and developing an adaptation module under RISQ reporting platform to track progress on adaptation actions and their impact. He said that climate change is of critical concern and praised the efforts of GCISC in taking up this challenge, to develop a platform for M&E for adaptation tracking, initially for the agriculture sector.

Mr. Baptiste Chatré – Climate Change Coordinator, GIZ Pakistan addressed the audience and spoke about Pakistan’s climate change issues and the importance of adaptation and mitigation.

Mr. Mazhar Hayat, Coordinator National Adaptation Plan, Ministry of Climate Change gave key remarks and highlighted the policy, institutional, technical and financial challenges for the implementation of M&E systems. He said that we need to understand adaptation in the local social, cultural context and consider the uncertainty of climate change projections.

The guests and different stakeholders were then divided into different focus group discussions for further discussion on institutional arrangements for the national M&E system, information and reporting platforms, and adaptation for M&E for the agriculture sector.

Stakeholders discussed that Pakistan’s economy is dependent on agriculture, and the agriculture sector is most vulnerable to climate change effects. There was an in-depth discussion to improve reporting mechanisms, improve technical and financial capacity to understand data, communication, and reporting needs. Some participants highlighted the need to undertake a large-scale risk assessment, particularly in the water and agriculture sectors.
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 The participants discussed adaptation recommendations such as promoting the use of green manure, training farmers in resilient practices, building early warning systems, promoting the use of local knowledge, developing low water-dependent crops, and promoting better farming and agricultural practices.

The M&E adaptation system is a stepping stone to empower government and national institutions such as the Ministry of Climate Change, GCISC, and more to be self-reliant, robust, data-driven, and transparent regarding climate data. This workshop was an important step for Pakistan’s response to climate change.