How Punjab is rebuilding environmental governance

Osama Rizvi in conversation with Silwat Saeed, Secretary, Environment Protection & Climate Change Department, Government of Punjab.

Punjab sits at the centre of Pakistan's climate challenge. It is exposed to rising temperatures, changing rainfall patterns, worsening heat stress, floods, water-quality pressures, agricultural burning, urban emissions and increasingly complex environmental risks.

But Punjab's response is also becoming more institutional, more digital and more data-driven.

The province is expanding reference-grade air-quality monitoring, building specialised enforcement teams, testing hundreds of thousands of vehicles, using GIS and live camera feeds for industrial monitoring, subsidising machinery to reduce crop-residue burning, monitoring rivers through IoT systems, developing a greenhouse-gas inventory and building what it calls a Punjab Climate Observatory.

Osama Rizvi spoke with Silwat Saeed, Secretary of Punjab's Environment Protection & Climate Change Department, about the province's changing climate-governance architecture and what it could mean for the wider Global South.

The climate reality behind the strategy

Osama Rizvi: Before we talk about solutions, how has Punjab's climate reality changed? What does the long-term data actually tell you?

Silwat Saeed: Climate change is now one of the most powerful forces affecting development, and the difficulty for countries such as Pakistan is that our historical contribution to the problem has been limited while the consequences are very serious. Pakistan's vulnerabilities extend from the Himalayas all the way to the coast, and Punjab sits in the middle of that system.

If you look at approximately 50 years of meteorological data, Punjab has experienced an average temperature increase of around 0.9°C. At the same time, precipitation patterns have become highly variable, with variability of around 50% in some of the datasets we examine. In southern Punjab, heat stress is particularly important. We are seeing roughly 20 additional summer days annually in parts of the region compared with historical conditions.

Then there is drought, declining water quality, floods and wildfires. Recent major floods displaced around one million people, while wildfire incidents increased by approximately 89% in a single year. These are not isolated environmental incidents anymore. They affect agriculture, water, public health, infrastructure, livelihoods and economic planning.

That was the horizon in front of us when we began changing our approach.

Osama Rizvi: Many governments already have climate policies. What is different about Punjab's current approach?

Silwat Saeed: The starting point was that we did not want another policy wish list.

The Punjab Climate Resilient Vision and Action Plan is backed by an actual implementation plan, and specific funding arrangements have been made for interventions. The framework covers adaptation, mitigation and cross-departmental action. That cross-departmental element is critical because climate change cannot be handled by one environmental department. Agriculture, transport, industries, local government, water, urban development and other departments all have roles.

What we are therefore trying to establish is a governance structure where climate action moves across departments rather than remaining confined to EP&CCD.

Rebuilding enforcement

Osama Rizvi: You have also significantly changed environmental enforcement. What was missing from the older model?

Silwat Saeed: One major problem was visibility. A lot of environmental information existed in fragmented or opaque systems and was not necessarily visible to decision-makers in a way that allowed rapid action.

We have therefore worked on institutional strengthening as well as enforcement. Punjab now has an Environmental Protection Force with specialised capacity. Officers are being equipped with body cameras, dedicated vehicles, protective equipment and other field technology.

We have also developed specialised squads for different areas. There are teams dealing with plastics, water and other environmental issues, and we are bringing in GIS specialists to strengthen spatial monitoring and enforcement. This changes the nature of enforcement.

Instead of simply sending an inspector somewhere on the basis of a complaint, we increasingly want the system itself to show us where a problem is developing.

Building the air-quality monitoring network

Osama Rizvi: Air-quality monitoring is one of the areas where Punjab appears to be investing heavily. What exactly are you building?

Silwat Saeed: We decided Punjab needed its own air-quality monitoring network. This has been missing at the scale required not only in Punjab but across Pakistan. At present, we have 59 reference-grade air-quality monitors. Another 25 are being deployed, while a further batch is expected afterwards, taking the network toward approximately 100 reference-grade stations across Punjab. The objective is to cover all 41 districts.

These are the type of reference-grade monitoring systems used in advanced regulatory environments such as the United States, Japan and other countries.

But there is another important distinction.

We are not interested in simply calculating an AQI number. We want to know exactly what pollutants are driving that AQI. So the system looks at pollutants including NOx, SOx, VOCs and particulate pollution. That pollutant-level information matters because once you know what is actually increasing, you can determine what policy action is required.

Without that information, you are acting blindly.

Rethinking smog as a year-round problem

Osama Rizvi: Smog in Lahore is often treated as a November crisis. You have repeatedly argued that this is the wrong way to understand it.

Silwat Saeed: Smog is not a single environmental challenge. It is the result of geography, meteorology, industrial emissions, transport, agricultural activity, waste burning and other human activities combining together. Seasonal conditions then intensify those pollutants. So our approach cannot be a knee-jerk reaction that begins when the air becomes visibly bad.

We are working on a year-round smog action plan. One major component is industrial mapping. Industries are being GIS-tagged, and we are monitoring selected industrial operations and emissions through live CCTV systems. If the monitoring system identifies an anomaly, the information can be used to mobilise a field team.

That gives us a much more responsive enforcement mechanism.

Osama Rizvi: So technology is being used to decide where inspectors actually go?

Silwat Saeed: Exactly. The objective is to move toward intelligence-led enforcement. The same applies to our broader digital systems. Field teams are increasingly using tablets. Information is being digitally recorded, archived and analysed. We have also created an Environmental Monitoring Centre. The Centre brings together information, analysis and environmental intelligence and then helps determine where enforcement action should be directed.

The model is moving away from paper-based inspection toward a system in which environmental data itself helps determine enforcement priorities.

Osama Rizvi: Enforcement usually creates tension with industry. How are you handling that relationship?

Silwat Saeed: Enforcement is necessary, but it cannot be the only relationship government has with industry. We are engaging industry through chambers of commerce and other stakeholder platforms. Companies and industry groups are being encouraged to make their own commitments and pledges. The current model is therefore about pooling efforts.

Government provides regulation, monitoring and enforcement, while industries have to become stakeholders in the solution.

If we want environmental improvements to survive beyond individual enforcement campaigns, industry has to understand both the environmental requirement and its own responsibility.

Osama Rizvi: Punjab has also experimented with smog cannons. Where do those fit into the strategy?

Silwat Saeed: We looked at international and European examples before introducing them. There are currently around 15 smog cannons in Lahore, and another 30 are planned for the coming smog season. But again, no single technology is a solution to smog.

It is one intervention among many. If the emissions continue to come from transport, industries, agricultural burning and waste, a cannon by itself will obviously not solve the problem. The real value comes when technologies are part of a much broader emissions-management strategy.

Agriculture, residue burning and evidence-based policy

Osama Rizvi: Agriculture is usually at the centre of the smog debate. Did source-apportionment work change your understanding of the problem?

Silwat Saeed: Yes. Source-apportionment work is very important because environmental policy should be based on evidence rather than assumptions. Interim results indicated that agricultural residue burning and municipal solid-waste burning were significant sources requiring intervention. That is why we concentrated heavily on rice-growing areas.

Punjab has provided 10,000 super seeders to farmers at a 60% subsidy so that paddy residue can be managed without burning. Last year, around 5,000 super seeders were deployed. That has now been scaled up to approximately 10,000. The objective is simple: if government wants a farmer not to burn crop residue, government also needs to help provide a practical alternative.

We are also monitoring fire incidents through satellite observations, including information from SUPARCO and NASA satellite systems.

The fire-incidence data have shown a significant reduction in burning in the areas where interventions have been concentrated.

Transport, vehicles and low emission zones

Osama Rizvi: Transport is another major source. How far has Punjab gone on vehicle-emissions testing?

Silwat Saeed: Around 450,000 vehicles have already been tested. The transport department is increasingly taking the lead in institutionalising vehicle inspections, and approximately 30 inspection outlets are planned for private vehicles. EPA will nevertheless continue with spot checking and enforcement. We are also looking at emissions from vehicles entering Lahore, particularly at major entry points.

The idea is to create a system where emissions compliance becomes routine rather than something checked only during a pollution emergency.

Osama Rizvi: You are now also studying Low Emission Zones for Lahore. How advanced is that idea?

Silwat Saeed: We have already undertaken work on the concept with LUMS, and we are looking at international experience. London's Ultra Low Emission Zone is an important example because it demonstrates how cities can regulate the most polluting vehicles geographically. We are also working with the British High Commission and examining what can be learned from international practice.

But Lahore is not London.

Any Low Emission Zone here has to reflect our own vehicle fleet, enforcement capacity, public-transport structure, economics and urban form. The objective is therefore not to simply import a policy but to adapt the principle to Punjab's circumstances.

Osama Rizvi: You have also intervened at a very micro level, even with restaurants and BBQ points.

Silwat Saeed: Yes, because emissions come from many small sources as well. For example, we introduced suction systems at BBQ points to capture smoke and particulate emissions.

On Lahore's MM Alam Road, compliance reached around 90%. It may sound like a small intervention compared with industrial or transport emissions, but environmental governance requires action at multiple scales. Large sources matter, but thousands of smaller sources together also contribute to the urban pollution load.

Building the data infrastructure: the GHG inventory and Climate Observatory

Osama Rizvi: One of the more ambitious initiatives is Punjab's own greenhouse-gas inventory. Why does a province need this?

Silwat Saeed: Because if you do not know your emissions, you cannot credibly manage them. Punjab is now developing a provincial greenhouse-gas inventory, which is something we have not previously had at this level. The inception stage has already been completed, and we expect the inventory to be ready in approximately nine to ten months.

The inventory will give us a baseline. It will help us understand where emissions are coming from, how they are changing and which sectors require intervention.

It also matters enormously for climate finance, loss and damage, mitigation funding and international reporting. If we want to access climate-finance mechanisms, we need evidence. We need to be able to demonstrate the scale of the problem, quantify interventions and ultimately show results.

Osama Rizvi: Is that same logic behind the Punjab Climate Observatory?

Silwat Saeed: Yes, but the Observatory is a much bigger concept. One of the most important assets we have built is EP&CCD's digital infrastructure.

A large part of our environmental information is now being digitised. Field teams have tablets. Records are archived. Monitoring data are being brought into digital systems. The Punjab Climate Observatory builds on that infrastructure.

The vision is for it to become a centre for what I would call climate intelligence. It will begin with Punjab-level data, but the ambition is larger. Over time, we want information from international organisations and regional institutions to feed into it as well. Ultimately, we want the Observatory to become something with regional relevance rather than merely another departmental dashboard.

Osama Rizvi: What does "climate intelligence" mean in practical terms?

Silwat Saeed: It means bringing datasets together in a way that produces policy direction.

At present, climate data, urbanisation data, infrastructure data, environmental data and socioeconomic information often exist separately. We want those datasets to converge.

For example, we are working on a district-level climate vulnerability index in partnership with KPMG. That means climate vulnerability will not only be discussed in general terms for Punjab as a whole. We will increasingly be able to understand vulnerability district by district.

We can then combine that with information on urbanisation, infrastructure, heat, water, floods and other risks. That gives policymakers a much more powerful basis for decision-making.

Osama Rizvi: Could that eventually change where Punjab spends development money?

Silwat Saeed: That is exactly the direction. Future development investment should increasingly be climate-risk proofed.

Before you build infrastructure or allocate major investment, you should know what climate risks that location faces. Is it exposed to flooding? Is water availability deteriorating? Is extreme heat increasing? Is urban density rising? Are there vulnerable communities?

The Climate Observatory should help government answer those questions before development decisions are made. It should also support early-warning systems, climate-finance planning and the development of a pipeline of climate projects. So the objective is not simply to observe climate change. It is to use climate information to influence policy and investment.

Osama Rizvi: You are effectively describing an operating system for provincial climate governance.

Silwat Saeed: That is a useful way of looking at it. We are trying to create a unified climate-evidence infrastructure. At the moment, different departments hold different pieces of information. The future model should allow those pieces to interact.

Early-warning systems should be connected. Vulnerability data should be connected. Environmental monitoring should be connected. Climate-finance opportunities should be connected.

And that information should eventually help generate projects and guide development investment. That is the larger purpose behind the Observatory.

Legislation, cross-border diplomacy and other priorities

Osama Rizvi: Punjab is also drafting a Climate Change Act. What would legislation add to this architecture?

Silwat Saeed: The Punjab Climate Change Act is currently being drafted. The idea is to provide a stronger legal framework for climate governance. Among the areas being considered are provisions connected with planning for Pakistan's Nationally Determined Contributions, institutional responsibilities and the role of initiatives such as the Punjab Climate Observatory.

The objective is to move climate considerations from voluntary or project-based activity toward something more deeply embedded in government. If climate action depends only on individual programmes, it can disappear when priorities change. A legal framework creates continuity.

Osama Rizvi: Air pollution is regional. How important is cross-border climate diplomacy for Punjab?

Silwat Saeed: It is essential. The challenge is shared, so the response ultimately has to be shared as well. Air does not recognise a border. Neither do many of the climate systems affecting water, agriculture, ecosystems and weather. That is why platforms such as ICIMOD and other regional forums are important. We need greater cross-border climate diplomacy, data-sharing and technical cooperation.

One province cannot solve a regional atmospheric problem entirely on its own.

Osama Rizvi: Outside smog and carbon, what other environmental areas are becoming priorities?

Silwat Saeed: There is considerable work underway. On plastics, we are working on circularity and reducing the amount of material entering the waste stream. We are also developing battery-waste management rules because batteries require a more specific regulatory framework rather than being treated simply as another hazardous substance.

Another area is fuel quality. Historically, that has primarily been within OGRA's mandate, but fuel quality directly affects environmental outcomes, so we are engaging there as well.

We are sharing findings and insights with OGRA and developing a system of mobile fuel-testing laboratories. The initial focus will be on five major cities, including cities such as Faisalabad and Gujranwala.

Again, the basic idea is that if you want to regulate emissions, you also need to understand what is being burned.

Osama Rizvi: Water quality is another area where you have begun using technology differently.

Silwat Saeed: Yes. Punjab has now started monitoring water quality in five major rivers.

The system uses IoT-based monitoring, and data are updated approximately hourly. The information is being brought into a Water Quality Portal. That is important because conventional testing can give you periodic snapshots.

Continuous or near-real-time monitoring gives you a very different understanding of how water quality changes. Over time, this should improve both enforcement and environmental planning.

Building the next generation of climate leaders

Osama Rizvi: One part of your programme is aimed much further into the future: schools. What exactly is the Green School Programme?

Silwat Saeed: The Green School Programme is really about behavioural change. We are developing a Green School certification system with support from partners including GIZ and UNICEF. Schools receive points for environmental actions. These can include waste segregation, water conservation, rainwater harvesting, environmental events and other practical climate measures.

Based on those points, schools can receive between one and five stars. Those stars will eventually be displayed outside the schools as well.

So a five-star school is visibly recognised for environmental performance. Around 30,000 schools have registered, and through the programme we have the potential to reach approximately eight million schoolchildren.

The idea is to make climate behaviour part of everyday institutional culture rather than something children only read about in a textbook.

Osama Rizvi: You are trying a similar model with university graduates through the climate internship programme?

Silwat Saeed: Yes.

Our first climate internship cohort included around 250 students, and another cohort of approximately 250 is planned. But we wanted to move beyond a conventional internship.

Students receive field exposure, practical training and certifications, and they work on capstone projects at the end. The programme is graduate-level, with attention to gender balance and district quotas.

That district representation matters because climate capacity cannot remain concentrated in Lahore. We want these students to return to different parts of Punjab with practical knowledge and eventually function as climate leaders in their own communities and professional fields.

For us, this is also a form of resource enhancement. You cannot build modern climate institutions without also building the people who will run them.

A different Global South story

Osama Rizvi: When international institutions talk about the Global South, the discussion is often centred on vulnerability, finance gaps and capacity constraints. Is there another story emerging here?

Silwat Saeed: The vulnerabilities are real and should not be minimised. Countries in the Global South need climate finance, technology and international cooperation.

But that does not mean innovation only flows from North to South. We are learning from London on Low Emission Zones.

We are looking at international air-monitoring standards. We work with international organisations. But at the same time, Punjab is building its own systems.

We are developing a provincial greenhouse-gas inventory. We are building a district-level vulnerability index. We are developing a Climate Observatory.

We are using GIS, CCTV, satellite monitoring, IoT systems and digital enforcement. We are developing new institutional structures, environmental forces and monitoring centres.

That is also part of the Global South story. We are not simply recipients of climate policy. We are increasingly designing and implementing it ourselves.

Osama Rizvi: And if Punjab takes one message from this experience to COP31, what should it be?

Silwat Saeed: That climate ambition has to become climate implementation. At international conferences, we often talk about targets, finance, technology and commitments.

All of those matter. But eventually climate action has to reach a factory, a farm, a vehicle, a river, a district, a school and a government budget. That is where implementation happens. For Punjab, the next phase is about connecting those levels through better institutions, better data and better climate intelligence.

If we can do that, climate governance stops being a separate environmental agenda and starts becoming part of how development itself is planned.

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