Pakistan trying to reach ‘debt for nature’ swap deal with creditors: PM

[Invicta]

Pakistan trying to reach ‘debt for nature’ swap deal with creditors: PM
Anwar IqbalPublished June 7, 2021 - Updated a day ago
Facebook Count
Twitter Share

14

Prime Minister Imran Khan addresses a ceremony in Islamabad on World Environment Day on June 5. — Photo courtesy Radio Pakistan


WASHINGTON: Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Sunday that Pakistan was working with international creditors on a debt-for-nature swap deal, which links financial relief to improvement in a country’s environment.

In an opinion piece he wrote for CNN on the World Environment Day, Mr Khan emphasised the need for a partnership between governments and financial institutions to stop the rapid degradation of the global environment.
“Pakistan is presently working with international creditors on a debt-for-nature swap deal, in which relief will be linked to achievements in biodiversity conservation,” he wrote.
Pakistan also recently floated the country’s first green bond, amounting to $500 million, which was well received in the global market.

The prime minister said Pakistan fully endorsed the UN decade (2021-2030) on ecosystems and was already working on an ambitious plan to expand and restore its forests, having already planted one billion trees and mangroves as part of its 10 billion tree drive.
“Pakistan’s mangrove coverage has increased by 300 percent over the past decade, making it the world’s only country with an expanding mangrove cover,” he added.

Mr Khan noted that during the first phase of the Bonn Challenge, Pakistan pledged to restore 865,000 acres of degraded landscape in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa — a target already surpassed.

“Now we voluntarily pledge a much larger national target under the Bonn Challenge for restoring almost 2.5 million acres of degraded/deforested lands across the country by 2023,” he wrote.
The prime minister regretted that decades of negligence had put the country on the list of countries most threatened by climate change, but pointed out that “what is true for Pakistan is true for the world at large”.
“One-third of global farmlands are highly degraded today, partially … forests have been disappearing at alarming rates in Pakistan and across the planet,” he wrote.

Mr Khan warned that this degradation was threatening global development, food security, and peace as congested and polluted urban spaces posed serious health and economic risks.
“As cities lose their vegetation and encroach into forests that surround them, they become more vulnerable to floods, which Pakistan is all too familiar with,” he wrote.

The prime minister noted that when he was growing up, Lahore was called the “City of Gardens”,’ but since then “cars and concrete buildings” had replaced “the sprawling mango and guava trees across the city, while previously clean canals are tarnished with countless single-use plastic water sachets”.
Published in Dawn, June 7th, 2021

Pakistan trying to reach ‘debt for nature’ swap deal with creditors: PM

In an opinion piece for CNN, PM emphasises need for a partnership between governments and financial institutions.

www.dawn.com

A good educated leader will come up with good plausible ideas, people in Pakistan need to remember these small initiatives for the next election otherwise all progress made in these difficult years will be lost. I remember Lahore from 20-30 years ago and while the development is needed and infrastructure upgrades and new builds are required, this needs to be done hand in hand with keeping the environment clean.

 

[Trango Towers]

A good educated leader will come up with good plausible ideas, people in Pakistan need to remember these small initiatives for the next election otherwise all progress made in these difficult years will be lost. I remember Lahore from 20-30 years ago and while the development is needed and infrastructure upgrades and new builds are required, this needs to be done hand in hand with keeping the environment clean.

Actually IK needs a young innovative educated team around him..sadly he has likes of sheikh Rasheed and other goons
Pakistan is fullnof talented young educated capable guys who never get a look in because badmash people run Pakistan

 

[Invicta]

Actually IK needs a young innovative educated team around him..sadly he has likes of sheikh Rasheed and other goons

Comes with the territory, If he stays true to his word (which I think he will) and bring people from grass roots to join him in governance in the long run, then its a positive step. Sheikh Rashid and others like him are career Politian's, I would rather they be on IK side then sit in opposition.

I do like Sheikh Rashid he tends to get under the skin of Bilawal Zardari - in my opinion worth the compromise.

 

[313ghazi]

We’re already beholden to creditors, getting debt relief is like putting money (indirectly) in the pockets of citizens and beefing up the state.

Sorry unacceptable. For these sorts the only acceptable answer is when money goes into the pocket of Zardari and Sharif. They think they will get a taste when they lick it coming out the other end.

 

[waqasmwi]

Jahiliyat ki inteha ho tum log. A curse on my country.

Can some one help him with negative ratings?

Bheek hi to mangi ja rahi hai or kya? Trade ho rahi hai?. You people are curse on my country. Bheek mangny ki hosla shkni ki bajaey isy naey naam dy kr promote kr k mulk ki konsi khidmat karty ho?

 

[waqasmwi]

BHeek mangny k naey andaaz

Negative rating k baad bhi bheek bheek hi rahy gi @Tipu7

Aik hty hn chutia aik hty maha chutia phr hty chutiya e azam aur us k bad atay hn s jaise log.

Or hamry guru aap

 

[IbnAbdullah]

Salaam

Bheek hi to mangi ja rahi hai or kya? Trade ho rahi hai?. You people are curse on my country. Bheek mangny ki hosla shkni ki bajaey isy naey naam dy kr promote kr k mulk ki konsi khidmat karty ho?

You can call it bheek or you can call it whatever else you may want, the realities on ground have to be understood. The massive amount of debt that has been accumulated especially in the tenure of the previous two governments as well as keeping a country of two hundred million have to be considered and unfortunately moxy and gumption alone aren't sufficient to keep the whole thing running smoothly.

Hard cash is needed, and unfortunately we don't have the capacity to print US dollars. So here we are.

Btw do you support nawaz sharif or ppp? Do you think those two are better or worse than Imran khan? I want to understand where you are coming from.

Thanks

 

[waqasmwi]

Salaam



You can call it bheek or you can call it whatever else you may want, the realities on ground have to be understood. The massive amount of debt that has been accumulated especially in the tenure of the previous two governments as well as keeping a country of two hundred million running cannot be kept running through moxy and gumption alone.

Hard cash is needed, and unfortunately we don't have the capacity to print US dollars. So here we are.

Btw do you support nawaz sharif or ppp? Do you think those two are better or worse than Imran khan? I want to understand where you are coming from.

Thanks

Taking loan is an other thing. Loan isn't a bheek as you repay with interest. I don't consider taking loans as a bad thing. But can asking to write off debt be justified. Isn't it against the dignity and self respect of a huge country?. It's very easy to blame previous 02 govts but to deliver and full filling your promises is hard and another thing. If Nawaz or Zardari are not better than Imran, Imran is also not better than these two.

 

[Markandeya]

What exactly is he saying...are lenders going to give him interest waivers or tenor extension fo4 being super good boy. Does he plan to stop all coal power plants of Pakistan? Will he declare he planted more trees.

Kahna kya chata hai?

Lenders want hard money but for good image publicly they will smile..but will invoke clauses to ensure every penny is collected.

I am a banker. I am just amused.

 

[swnjo]

What exactly is he saying...are lenders going to give him interest waivers or tenor extension fo4 being super good boy. Does he plan to stop all coal power plants of Pakistan? Will he declare he planted more trees.

Kahna kya chata hai?

Lenders want hard money but for good image publicly they will smile..but will invoke clauses to ensure every penny is collected.

I am a banker. I am just amused.

this --> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debt-for-nature_swap

 

[Riz]

.....

 

[IbnAbdullah]

Salaam

Taking loan is an other thing. Loan isn't a bheek as you repay with interest. I don't consider taking loans as a bad thing. But can asking to write off debt be justified. Isn't it against the dignity and self respect of a huge country?. It's very easy to blame previous 02 govts but to deliver and full filling your promises is hard and another thing. If Nawaz or Zardari are not better than Imran, Imran is also not better than these two.

Thank you for clarifying.


In my view, there is no dignity in bankruptcy nor in being severely in debt. Indeed, the more indebted we are the less options we have.

I'm going to be honest, even if we were asking for a write off, we have to remember that this we includes the millions who are not as fortune as you and I. However, those millions are equally (if not more so) affected by massive debt of the nation due to inflation and such that ultimately must result from it.

So a leader trying to reduce the burden is, imho, doing their job well. Obviously, it goes without saying that national and strategic interests shouldn't be compromised along the way.

With regards to the issue mentioned by the PM, it isn't asking for loan forgiveness. It is essentially selling them green credits in return for loan.

I know someone personally who is involved with a large corporation in Pakistan and he has been assigned by that company to plant thousands of acres of forest. He's doing the feasibility.

The idea is that that company plants massive forest, the they get taxcredit in return fromthe Government. The government than is able to sell those carbon points in the international market. Large corporations buy these carbon credits from our country and get tax offsets in their own countries.

Companies get tax breaks if they have a lower carbon footprint, and some companies do it by purchasing it from countries like ours. It helps them and us.

Obviously, the matter is a lot more complex but the general idea is as described.

So we aren't asking - rather negotiating - for free anything. We are simply trying to sell a product (carbon credits through planted forests etc) to people it may be off value to.

The added benefit is that we improve our environment, and increase the forests in our country whilst simultaneously making financial gains.

Read about carbon farming. It's like that.

 

[Markandeya]

this --> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debt-for-nature_swap

This is only for country on the verge of default...just a tokenism...this is pure insult and process itself is to teach aukat.

 

[IbnAbdullah]

Salaam

Is kuttay ko patta daloo nawazi kuttaa khul gia ha is thread par

To tari maan baich kar loan aor interest day tari maan ka thoku imran khan ??karza us kanjar nawazo na lia to interest tera bap day ga khoti k buchy ??

Bro, I think we should remain civil in our discussions. That is certainly not called for. I hope you don't mind me pointing that out.

This is only for country on the verge of default...just a tokenism...this is pure insult and process itself is to teach aukat.

Meh, its a product like any other sold to interested parties.

The people who actually pay are Western countries wanting to reach their climate goals by purchasing (through long processes) the credits they need.

It's a much bigger thing for Western countries than countries like India and Pakistan who aren't at that stage of development. So I can understand why you would take it as nothing more than tokenism and to teach 'aukat'. We aren't there yet

 

[waqasmwi]

Is kuttay ko patta daloo nawazi kuttaa khul gia ha is thread par

To tari maan baich kar loan aor interest day tari maan ka thoku imran khan ??karza us kanjar nawazo na lia to interest tera bap day ga khoti k buchy ??

**** off mother fucker

Is kuttay ko patta daloo nawazi kuttaa khul gia ha is thread par

To tari maan baich kar loan aor interest day tari maan ka thoku imran khan ??karza us kanjar nawazo na lia to interest tera bap day ga khoti k buchy ??

@Tipu7 where is your so called "Negative Rating" ?