Dr. Muhammad Irfan Khan from the AIOU in his presentation Environmental Accounting and Auditing said that it is the responsibility of business firms to use environmentally friendly and cost effective technologies in the working environment for saving energy and reducing pressure on natural resources. The speaker felt that environmental accounting is a newly emerging concept in Pakistan, and focuses on private cost rather than cost incurred by the society due to various developmental activities or business operations. Environmental Management Accounting, as defined by Dr. Irfan, is the identification, collection, estimation, analysis, internal reporting, and use of environmental cost information, for both conventional and environmental decision making within an organization. While highlighting the differences between ordinary accounting and green accounting, Dr. Irfan explained that the former talks of monetary resources, while the later focuses on energy resources within a business firm/organization. Highlighting the importance of environmental/green accounting, the speaker asserted that one must comply with the international standardization principles, ISO 9000 and ISO 14000. He cautioned that environmental performance could be one of the technical barriers to our trade under the WTO regime. The speaker stressed the need for a change in Pakistan's domestic policies by encouraging innovations in policy procedures and operations, use of raw material, packaging, consumption patterns, manufacturing cleaner production technologies in the wake of unprecedented challenges and reaping maximum benefits out of the global market. He recommended timely decisions on the part of business management to reduce environmental costs significantly, right from operational changes and house keeping, investment in green process technology, and redesigning our processes and products.
Mr. Abid Shah from the Agha Khan University, Karachi, in his presentation Environmental Management Accounting (EMA): A Potential Decision-Making tool for Environmental Management and Sustainable Development in Pakistan emphasized that business firms must fulfill their corporate responsibilities during their operations. Business entities must take into account all aspects of sustainable development including environmental, economic, and social building blocks. He recommended that Environmental Protection Act 1997 must be implemented in its true spirit and that Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) must be made mandatory before taking any development initiatives. He felt that sustainable business management is becoming a goal for business corporations due to the stakeholder pressure, local compliance and benefit to the community. Citing the example of Kirthar National park in Sindh, the speaker said that outside company/business firms' operations would have impacted the social, cultural and ethical values of the local community as well as affected the flora, and fauna, which is the common property of the community. Due to the absence of any action on the part of Environm ental Protection Agency, the oil exploring company in Kirthar National Park did not pay as per its commitment to the local community, the cost of using water during its operations. Here, the ultimate losses were borne by the local community.
The speaker was optimistic that environmental management systems are becoming popular in Pakistan, companies have become sensitive to environmental concerns mainly due to Environmental Protection Act 1997 which emphasizes that all projects undergo initial environmental examination or what is called Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). The speaker appreciated the empowerment of provincial Environmental Protection Agencies and the advocacy campaigns launched by various civil society organizations including SDPI, IUCN, WWF, and Sungi Development Foundation in this regard.
Mr. Musharaf Ali Talpur from the University of Sindh, Jamshoro, in his presentation Economic Value of Environment, Market Failure and Costs of Environmental Degradation: A Case Study of the Indus Delta Mangrove Forests in Sindh, Pakistan emphasized that Indus delta mangrove forests must be protected on a sustainable basis as an estimated 1.2 million people are directly and indirectly dependant on these for their livelihood. The speaker cautioned that the failure of both the market and government policy could lead to the degradation of mangroves through over-exploitation. For sustainable conservation, the allocation of water for crop production in the rest of the country must not affect the supply of water to the mangroves. The speaker also pointed out other uses of mangroves such as being a source of timber, fuel wood, water and fodder for livestock, tourism etc. Shoreline stabilization, sedimentation retention, and ground water retention are some other functions and services
Pervaiz Tahir, chief economist, Planning Commission, Government of Pakistan, chaired the session. The discussant, Shreekanth Gupta, from Delhi School of Economics, appreciated the role of SDPI for sensitization on environmental and green accounting. He asserted that we have ignored the fact that our economies have grown at the cost of environmental damage, a fact that is not reflected in our national income account. According to the discussant, nowadays ‘gross national products' are used as synonymous to ‘gross nature products', and that one should do away with the paradoxical way of measuring national income, which caters to physical capital and ignores natural capital. He also recommended that we develop eco-friendly technologies and allocate special funds for quantifying damages to the environment. We should also incorporate and strengthen ethical values in our business operation systems, asserted Gupta.
During the discussion session one of the participants said that the research should not stop here rather it should trickle down to the product level and it should be business firms and not the consumer charged with added product pricing due to environmental damage.
Reported by Shujat Ali Khan
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