Syed Rizwan Mehboob
The notion of ‘CV failures’ is the brilliant brainchild of an Ivy League academician. I had the good fortune of stumbling across it recently. It was riveting. Even the purported failures of this wise man outshone the combined triumphs of many self-proclaimed achievers amongst us. Yet it was the sheer power of his thesis, which calls for introspection of the very highest order, which threw up an entirely new way of thinking for me. This was something I returned to as I struggled to make up my mind about pursuing a political career. It soon turned out that settling upon the environment, as my chosen path was the rather easy bit. The harder part was knowing on which horse to place one’s political bets. Urbanisation, economic performance and social development indicators represent the usual litmus tests for good governance. Yet I was looking for something more. And then the notion of ‘CV failures’ came back to me. I began thinking: why not adopt this framework to assess the performance of cross-party green politics in Pakistan?For no particular reason, I started with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa – that man-made bastion of change and transparency, or so the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf would have us believe. The latter has polished its ‘Billion Tree Tsunami’ project so much so that it shines like Polaris high above the Indus. Yet even as I proceeded with caution it became clear that the so-called green revolution is not exactly as it appears. First and foremost is the crafty combining of natural forestation patterns with the targeted planting of trees in specific areas. It is all a bit dishonest, if truth be told. Thus it should be duly recorded under Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s CV of ‘green failures’.Next on my list was the Pakistan People’s Party, currently at the helm in Sindh. During my early days as an environmentalist, there was much talk of this party’s ‘out-of-the-box forestation interventions, which happened to be funded by national financial institutions. These achieved not very much at all. More recently, however, it has been allegations of the PPP’s (during its last tenure) role in the embezzling of funds and profits from timber exported from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa that has really put me off. More recently, there are questions to be brought to the current leadership’s attention. Of primary concern are claims that the Sindh land revenue authority is allowing long-term leasing of riverside lands to feudal landlords on the basis of agro-forestry.In reality, the latter pockets the rewards. Such practices are responsible for long stretches of forest denudation along both sides of the Indus River. Yet that is not all. Sindh is also witnessing the clearing of mangroves to literally pave the way for never-ending real estate projects. This is not to mention ongoing degradation of marine resources. All of this has prompted me to break off my romance with the PPP.Next, I turned my attention to theCV of ‘green failures’ of the Awami National Party, which I used to hold in the highest esteem. Yet all that has changed. Following the devolution of powers to the provinces – the party’s neglect in appointing a full-time director-general has wreaked havoc on the operational capacity of the Pakistan Forest Institute Peshawar.
Last but not least I pondered the performance of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, which holds the Punjab. Sadly, things don’t look good there either. Over the last decade, the government has not wasted a single opportunity in reducing this once lush landscape to nothing more than a concrete jungle. The speed at which precious agricultural land disappears is alarming, to say the least. And then there is the matter of the Punjab’s rush to operationalise coal-based energy solutions without implementing suitable safeguards. However, there is some good news. The party’s lower ranks have put together a climate change mitigation programme to be enforced at the national level, through political and technical consensus building.Only time will tell, however, if this is a case of too little too late.
Having conducted this critical evaluation of cross-party environmental performance – I have come to the realisation that it doesn’t, in fact, matter too much as to the face of the party in question. None has a clean chit. The authorities rightly recognise national threats to the country in terms of economic performance, security, terrorism and corruption.
It must now waste no further time in adding the environment to the list. For once the damage has been done it remains irreversible. In short, political parties supporting sustained environmental policies deserve a better chance.
