Caretaker Minister for Information and Broadcasting Murtaza Solangi has stressed for adopting whole of society approach to deal with the challenge of climate change.
He was speaking at the inaugural ceremony of Climate Change Desk at Pakistan Television News, in Islamabad today.
Murtaza Solangi said all stakeholders including community leaders, Ulema, political parties, economic experts, artists, poets and parents should be engaged for this purpose.
He said along with engaging private media to create public awareness for climate change challenge, human resources of Radio Pakistan should also be utilized to achieve greater results in this regard.
Murtaza Solangi said the collaboration of Ministry of Information and Ministry of Climate Change is indispensable to create awareness in the society about hazrdous impacts of climate change.
The Minister said media should give special attention in providing space to climate awareness in their bulletins and current affairs programs.
He said Information Services Academy should provide training opportunities to climate reporters. He also congratulated the PTV News team for taking this much needed step efficiently.
Turning to holding of general elections in the country, he said there is no favourite of the caretaker government as people of Pakistan have the right to elect their representatives to run the country’s affairs.
The Information Minister urged media including PTV to provide equal opportunities to all registered political parties of the country in their programs and news.
At the launching ceremony of the designated Climate change Desk at PTV News Headquarters Islamabad, the Minister was informed that it is first ever dedicated Climate Change Desk in any news Channel of Pakistan.
In his remarks, Secretary Information and Broadcasting Zahoor Ahmad said climate and disaster reporting is a very specialized field which requires a particular sensitivity.
He said in collaboration with Ministry of climate change we will train our reporters for this special cause. He said we should remain ready for disaster preparedness.
The Secretary vowed to precede the climate change awareness effectively as it is the only way forward to deal any kind of climate disaster.
Speaking on the occasion, Director Current Affairs PTV Aoun Abbas Sahi apprised the Minister that the desk will work round the clock to highlight Pakistan’s narrative regarding climate change.
He said the desk is aimed at creating climate change awareness and public consciousness by converting scientific language into journalistic language.
In his remarks, Secretary Climate Change Asif Hyder Shah stressed for creating media awareness to combat the challenge of climate change. He assured that we will extend every possible help to this designated desk by sending climate change experts and providing our timely feedback.
