KARACHI: We are losing 30,000 children to poor environmental conditions at our houses and 25,000 adults to overall air pollution in the country every year.
This was observed by Minister for Environment Askari Taqvi while speaking at an Earth Day event held at the Wetland Centre of the World Wide Fund for Nature-Pakistan (WWF-P) at Sandspit, Karachi.
According to him, the industrial effluent and domestic sewage going into the sea through Lyari and Malir rivers have badly polluted the beaches. The Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) has prepared four feasibility reports for effluent treatment plants meant for the four industrial zones in Sindh, he said.
‘Domestic pollution starts from poor quality of water… our people are indulging in unhealthy practices,’ he remarked, and observed that villagers used cow dung, instead of wood and coal, as fuel for cooking food which was a source of innumerable diseases. It was, however, a responsibility of the state to do something about it, he added.
The minister said that cow dung could be utilised in power generation, advising nazims of towns and UCs to look into the possibility of setting up big power generation projects fuelled by dung.
He also attributed vehicle emissions to the increasing air pollution and urged owners of private cars to keep their vehicles in order so that the environment could be saved from getting further polluted.
‘We are trying to have a good number of CNG buses to replace the old ones,’ he said, pointing out that the obsolete and rusty public transport vehicles causing great damage to the environment by their emissions.
He recalled that the auto-rickshaws presently plying in Karachi are another source of environmental pollution and are being phased out. ‘These rickshaws will be replaced by four stroke rickshaws by 2010,’ he added.
Calling for individual efforts by all citizens to keep their own houses and localities neat and clean to improve the overall environment, he said that the ecological system had to be protected and this demanded consistent efforts by all citizens to adopt good habits, refrain from littering the surroundings and keep the environment everywhere clean, especially beaches.
Not enough had been done for the preservation of the country’s coastline, he observed, and pointed out that the long coastal belt was in a poor condition. He hoped that civic agencies and NGOs would continue to put in their efforts in this regard.
The minister appreciated the performance of the youths who had enthusiastically contributed towards the preservation of environment at beaches through different initiatives like the one taken by WWF-P workers and volunteers.
About 500 students of various schools participated in a beach-cleaning activity at the Sandspit marine turtle nesting site on Wednesday to mark the Earth Day. The activity was aimed at ensuring a safe and healthy sanctuary for the endangered marine turtles.
It was observed that thousands of picnickers frequented the beach area on holidays and left the site littered. The beach-cleaning was an initiative to encourage the young generation in keeping the environment clean and healthy for human beings and marine life.
The activity was followed by screening of a documentary on marine turtles and a quiz programme.
The minister gave away prizes to the students who demonstrated best performance in the beach cleaning activity and those who won the quiz programme.
0 comments:
Post a Comment