Youth of Pakistan can play a critical role in socio-economic development of the country in diverse areas.

This consensus emerged in a program of News and Current Affairs Channel of Radio Pakistan in connection with the International Youth Day observed in Pakistan like worldwide on Friday.

Speaking in the program, climate change activist Hania Imran said Pakistan is among top ten countries that are most vulnerable to impacts of climate change. She said recent heat waves and torrential rains in the world including Pakistan can be traced to these changes. She said if we do not take steps now, the impacts of climate change will become severe in the coming years. The climate change activist said climate change is mainly due to increasing CO2 emissions around the world which needs to be slow down.

Emphasizing the role of youth, Hania Imran said young people need to be actively engaged in raising awareness about the adverse impacts of climate change and how can we play our role to stop it.

She informed that she founded an NGO named Youth Climate Activists Pakistan which has more than one hundred volunteers who are playing their part in spreading information about the ways to protect the environment. 

Hannan Ali, founding director of National Youth Assembly, said the assembly holds sessions on various key issues to prepare youth to tackle these. He said mock assembly sessions are held regularly to give confidence to members. He said alumni of this assembly are serving in important national and international institutions and we are constantly working to prepare new leaders. He appreciated the incumbent government for agreeing to expand the scope of this organization to give more opportunities to youth. He said we have produced literature for youth to help them understand how a vibrant democracy and parliament works to legislate important laws of the country.

Touqeer Ahmad and Sikandar Ali, two NUST University students who won second position among eighty participants from fifty three countries in a competition in California gave the details of their projects.

International Day of Youth was first observed on 12th August, 2000. The purpose of the day is to draw attention to a given set of cultural and legal issues surrounding youth.