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Here's a report on Pakistan's first CDM energy project:
BONG, Pakistan (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Pakistan has completed its first project under the United Nations Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) with a hydropower scheme that the government hopes will help tackle the country’s electricity deficit while acting as a trailblazer to attract foreign investment.
The 84-megawatt New Bong Escape project has been built in Mirpur district in Pakistan-administered Kashmir (known as Azad Jammu Kashmir or AJK), 100 km (63 miles) south of Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad.
The project uses “run of river” construction, with a semi-submerged powerhouse containing four sets of turbines and generators rather than a dam. It is located about 8 km (5 miles) downstream from the Mangla Dam, a major reservoir and itself a 1,000 MW hydropower generator, which was commissioned in 1967.
The new plant, co-funded by the Asian Development Bank and the Islamic Development Bank, was the country’s first hydropower scheme to be registered with the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) as a CDM project, in January 2009. The $217 million project was completed and began power generation in March.
According to Larib Energy Limited, the project developer, it will reduce Pakistan’s carbon dioxide emissions by 219,000 tonnes annually by supplanting fossil fuel-fired power plants.
LOCAL COMPLAINTS
But people who live near the plant complain that they have seen no economic benefit from its construction, and that the local environment is now in worse shape than previously.
“Locals were denied jobs during the construction and ... threatened by company officials for demanding jobs,” charged Tahir Choudhary, 42, a farmer who lives in Lahri Choudharian, a village close to the scheme.
Residents say that a river downstream from the Mangla reservoir used to flow past the corner of their village and carry away sewage, but it was diverted for the power project, leaving the riverbed dry.
Owing to the poor performance and non-serious attitude of bureaucrats, the government has finally wrapped up the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) Cell, depriving the country of the benefits of the international carbon credit facility.
The CDM Cell was established in 2005 at the Climate Change Division to provide technical and policy support and to advise the government in matters related to the implementation of the CDM strategy in Pakistan and approval of projects for carbon credits.
Carbon credits and carbon markets are a component of national and international attempts to cap greenhouse gas emissions and to allow market mechanisms to drive industrial and commercial processes towards lowering emissions.
Pakistan signed the Kyoto Protocol on January 11, 2005 and became eligible to benefit from the CDM, but since 2006, it has managed to get approval for only 29 projects, all with minor value for carbon credits.
The CDM was initiated under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol of the United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in order to explore cost-effective options to mitigate the impact of climate change.
It is one of the instruments that help developing countries achieve sustainable development, while at the same time contribute to the ultimate objective of the UNFCCC.
Under the CDM, developed countries assist developing ones in implementing project activities that reduce greenhouse gas emissions in return for certified emission reductions, widely referred to as carbon credits.
“The CDM is the only instrument that is available for developing countries to assist them in achieving sustainable development and contributing to the ultimate objective of the convention,” a Climate Change Division official said on the condition of anonymity.
Under the CDM projects in Asia till 2012, China deposited 55.8 per cent, India 29.2 per cent, Indonesia 2.3 per cent, Vietnam 3.6 per cent, Thailand 2.3 per cent, Malaysia 2.3 per cent, South Korea 1.3 per cent, Philippines 1.1 per cent, Sri Lanka 0.4 per cent while Pakistan’s share was only 0.6 per cent.
Similarly, in terms of volume of CERs until 2012 in Asia, China’s carbon credit share was 72.7 per cent, India’s 15.6 per cent, Vietnam’s 1.0 per cent, Indonesia’s 1.6 per cent, Thailand’s 0.8 per cent, Malaysia’s 1.3 per cent, South Korea’s 5.8 per cent, Philippines’ 0.4 per cent, Sri Lanka’s 0.1 per cent, while Pakistan’s credit share was only 0.4 per cent.
The figures show that the CDM Cell did little to get its share of the millions of dollars available for carbon credits. Though CDM Cell officials regularly traveled abroad, no awareness programme, seminar or any other activity or capacity building programme was carried out by the cell in the last many years.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/834786/something-in-the-air-govt-snuffs...
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