KARACHI - Economists, academicians and civil society activists have urged the World Bank and other international donors to give funds and not loans to help the developing countries overcome the climate change. They also suggested that the developing countries should be provided grants as subsidies for utilising their renewable energy resources to reduce the green house gas emissions. The demanded was made during "National Consultative Workshop on World Bank South Asia Climate Change Strategy" jointly organised by Participatory Development Initiatives [PDI] and Oxfam GB in a local hotel on Wednesday. A large number of economists, civil society activists, experts, community leaders and academicians belonging to all four provinces participated in the workshop and shared their views on the recently prepared World Bank draft on its South Asia Climate Change Strategy. Sikander Brohi PDI, Simi Kamal Hisaar Foundation, Muhammed Aqib Udin IUCN Pakistan, Ronaldo Desoza SHEHRI, Jamal Mustafa Shoro WWF Pakistan, Adam Malik ActionAid Pakistan, Anita Shah Lakyari TRUCE and others addressed the workshop. They also strongly recommended for increasing the lending portfolio in renewable energy, phasing out lending for mega hydro projects, phasing out lending for other fossil fuels including oil and coal and phasing out lending for mega dams projects. The speakers also said that the hydropower projects should be excluded from the World Bank Funding for Renewable energy and the portfolio for the real renewable energy should be increased by World Bank. They said that the World Bank Strategy correctly highlights the key threats of climate change to our globe. However, when it comes to the remedies to prevent such horrific threats, the World Bank Strategy adopts the posture of "living with the danger in place of averting the danger" when the whole world is trying to find ways and methods to mitigate the causes and effects of climate change. The key focus of World Bank Strategy is on "adaptation, which gives an impression and message that nothing can be done to mitigate the climate change causes and we have to live with the dangers of climate change through adaptation, they said. It is unjustified approach as it is a global fact that the industrial and developed countries of North are mainly responsible for climate change with increased greenhouse gas emissions. Now the World Bank strategy of increasing the burden of loans of the developing poor countries to adapt to the impact of the climate change crisis created by the developed countries is against the basic principle of equity and equality. World Bank's own study "Extractive Industry Review" has concluded that World Bank's, lending in the fossil fuel sector especially oil, gas and coal has emerged as the key contributor towards greenhouse gas emissions /climate change. However, speakers said that despite such fact again one of the key emphases of World Bank's South Asia Climate Change Strategy is the continuation in the lending in coal, oil and gas sector. This is completely negation of any kind of commitment of the World Bank contributing towards decrease in the green house gas emission to stabilize the climate change situation, they said. They said that one of the key elements of World Bank South Asia Climate Change Strategy is on "Carbon Trade, but it is unfortunate that World Bank uses the sorrows of climate change as "business Opportunity", resultantly carbon trade has been given key priority in the South Asian Climate Change Strategy. World Bank Strategy on financing in water sector gives "Water Infrastructure Packages" key priority after Water Resource Management" while keeping water efficient technologies, crop research and education on third, fourth and fifth level of priorities. This is again, matter of concern for the experts and civil society as it the indication of the emphasis of World Bank developing more mega dams. This is being done despite worldwide concern on the negative environmental and social impacts of mega dams including large scale degradation of the downstream riverine ecologies large scale displacement, threats of flooding as result of dam breaking or overflows from the dams etc. The recent studies have also concluded that the dams are also responsible for greenhouse gas emissions. Besides, recent studies have also held dams as responsible for earth quakes in different regions.