ISLAMABAD: Speakers at a workshop on Sunday urged the government to let the world know of its increasing vulnerabilities to the altering weather patterns at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to be held in France in December.

Organised by Heinrich Boll Stiftung (HBS) for journalists, the environmentalists at the workshop explained how Pakistan was the third most vulnerable country in the region to the impacts of natural disasters triggered by the changing climate.

While Marion Regina Mueller of HBS and Nathalie Dupont from the French embassy spoke about the functioning of the UNFCCC, the environmentalists elaborated on the importance of the conference where more than 40,000 participants from nearly 200 countries will fight for funding to deal with the future challenges of climate change.

According to Malik Amin Aslam, the vice-president International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), German Watch rated Pakistan as the most vulnerable of its neighbours given the country`s topography and the increasing population.`Pakistan`s contribution to the green house gasesis aninsigniñcant0.5percent of all global emissions but its carbon emissions will increase in near future which is not a good sign,` said Mr Aslam. He urged the government to turn to renewable sources of energy that have vast potential in Pakistan.

After environmental journalist Rina Saeed Khan showed her documentary, Shakeel Ramay from the Sustainable Development Policy Institute elaborated on the role of the civil society to support the government in its efforts.

With the help of a brief documentary, Inspector General Forest, Ministry of Climate Change, Syed Mahmood Nasir highlighted how Pakistan was losing its forests.

`In Azad Jammu and Kashmir, incidents of land sliding have increased and the visibility has become poor due to the rising air pollution as trees have disappeared over the years,` he said, adding the forest cover was also fast reducing in Swat and Chitral.

He also lamente d how there was no policy to protect forests as the urban sprawl spread faster than ever. He also spoke on the concept of reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) adopted by most developed countries.