Environment is an important sector for Norwegian development assistance and supported by Norway's National Strategy for Sustainable Development 2002. Environmental issues are also promoted by the Government of Pakistan's Poverty Reduction Strategy and advocated for through its National Conservation Strategy (NCS), and the National Environment Action Plan (NEAP), currently being implemented in the country. Pakistan is also a signatory to numerous international conventions and protocols, making it mandatory to improve its performance within the sector.
The Embassy's Environment-programme has made significant contributions in the areas of policy formulation, capacity enhancement, institutional strengthening, advocacy and rural development, natural resource management, industrial pollution and raising awareness on environment matters. Major civil society partners in the sector include IUCN, AKRSP, Sungi, besides the Government of Pakistan. Environment is a cross-cutting theme in Norwegian assistance and therefore is an integral part of several community-uplift programmes being supported by the Embassy. Further, the entire work in the sector has been based on the principles of gender integration, recipient responsibility, participation of the marginalised sections of society, and establishing cross-sectoral linkages as far as possible.
Future support to the sector is not expected to expand beyond the current partners and areas mentioned above.