The tenth meeting of the governing council of the South Asia Cooperative Environment Programme (SACEP), which is going on in Kathmandu, has elected Pakistan’s Minister of State for Environment Malik Amin Aslam Khan as its vice chairman.

The SACEP established in 1982 is involved in addressing environmental issues for sustainable development and conservation of environment in South Asia. The other countries represented at the Meeting included Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

The Pakistani minister addressed the meeting appreciating SACEP’s crucial role in bringing together the regional nations on a common platform on environmental issues. He said that environmental deterioration and degradation is growing by every passing day, which calls for determined individual and collective efforts to get rid of this menace.

He said that issues like climate change are putting this whole region and its fragile eco system as well as large population base under extreme stress, adding that the Himalayas which are a store-house for 50% of the world’s ice reserves would loose 4/5th of this precious resource by 2035. This is the “truth” all of us will very “inconveniently” have to face, he said.

The minister said that the people of Pakistan had great hope in SACEP who shared its vision of making South Asian environmental friendly region and expressed resolve to continue to work towards making SACEP an imaginative and dynamic organization.