Held at the Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) under the auspices of United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the workshop brought together tanners, representatives from the Sialkot Tannery Zone Association, Pakistan and from the SCCI and Environment Protection Agency (EPA), climate change experts and students from local universities.

During the one-day workshop titled “Climate Change Emerging Issues, Adaptation Challenges and Recommendations for Leather Sector in Sialkot”, Umer Sher Chattha, Sialkot Deputy Commissioner, directed the officials concerned to speed up the construction works to ensure the completion of the much-delayed Sialkot Tannery Zone. “The initiative of a well-equipped project in Sialkot is a significant leap forward to modernise the region’s leather industry in an environmentally friendly way”, said Chattha, highlighting that the project in collaboration with UNIDO will be a landmark achievement of public-private partnership in Sialkot.

During the workshop, some experts explained how climate change impacts local communities and how these can be aggravated by obsolete practices in leather processing. Muhammad Suleman Tahir, a Chemical Engineering expert and Professor, spoke about the concerns of the Sialkot leather industry’s contribution to water, air and soil pollution and how the risks to the environment and human health can be avoided by adopting the best practices and technologies that are now available.From The Nation