23 August 2005

WWF – Pakistan and APTMA pledge to promoteBetter Environment Practices in Cotton production and Textile Processing

LAHORE– WWF – Pakistan , the leading conservation NGO in the country, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) here on Friday, August 26 th , at WWF Head Office in Lahore . This agreement was signed to have collaboration under WWF - Pakistan 's initiatives on sustainable cotton production and promote better environmental practices in the textile processing sector of Pakistan .

APTMA has graciously agreed to f acilitate WWF – Pakistan by providing institutional support to promote sustainable cotton production and encourage textile processing units in Lahore , Karachi and Faisalabad to introduce and promote cleaner production practices in their units.

Mr. Arif Saeed, President APTMA said “We are looking forward to this collaboration that would assist the textile production mills to adopt cleaner production practices and help them maintain and increase textile exports in the post WTO scenario”.

Mr. Ali Hassan Habib, Director General of WWF - Pakistan said “This is the beginning of a long term relationship whereby we are trying to introduce environment friendly practices throughout the trail, starting from cotton production to textile manufacturing”.

Pakistan is the fourth largest cotton producer in the world and the crop plays a significant role in its economy. Cotton is a high input crop and irrational use of irrigation water and agrochemicals result in adverse impacts on environment and health of farm workers. WWF - Pakistan 's Sustainable Cotton Initiative (SCI) aims to produce cleaner cotton by promoting Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and efficient irrigation techniques resulting in improved livelihood for cotton growers.

Similarly, another initiative focuses on developing expertise on Better Environmental Practices and Technologies suitable for the textile processing sector in Pakistan and also to promote environmental reporting among the corporate sector, particularly in the textile sector. Successful cases in the European Union and within the country will be identified and closely studied for this purpose. This information will be disseminated to the key stakeholders through awareness sessions and training workshops, some of which will be facilitated by consultants from EU.

For further information:
Hania Aslam, WWF – Pakistan,
Ferozepur Road, Lahore.
UAN: 111-WWF-PAK(993-725)
Tel: +92 42 5862360, 5869429,
Fax: 042 5862358,
e-mail:haslam@wwf.org.pk