Terminal operator realises the importance of mangrove forests

The PIBT, in collaboration with IUCN, plans to plant saplings over 500 acres.

KARACHI: As the city continues to grow, the surrounding ecology is gobbled up by rapid urbanisation. The mangrove belt along the Korangi Creek was one of the casualties - until some companies which operate terminals saw the error in their ways and made an effort to reverse the damage.

Sharique Siddiqui, the chief executive officer of the Pakistan International Bulk Terminal Limited (PIBT), said that the organisation inadvertently damaged mangroves during a construction project. But following the laws laid out by the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa), the PIBT compensated by planting more saplings. “Yes the laws of the Sepa are very strict, but we are following all of them,” he told The Express Tribune. According to the law, any organisation which damages mangroves must plant saplings over the same amount of land plus an additional 10 per cent. “But we are doing more than that,” said Siddiqui.

The PIBT, in collaboration with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), has initiated a project to plant mangroves at Korangi Creek near Port Qasim. Since June 2012, the organisation has planted saplings over 60 hectares. It plans to plant saplings over 500 hectares. More than 42,000 saplings will be planted over 190 hectares in the upcoming season.



On Thursday, IUCN and PIBT invited environmentalists, government officials and other development authorities to the site. Among them was Port Qasim Authority’s chairperson, Admiral Muhammad Shafi, who said that his organisation would strive not to harm the ecology with any of the projects initiated under it. “On a personal level, I don’t like someone chopping away mangrove forests. I encourage others to plant this environment-friendly tree.” The environment secretary, Mir Hussain Ali, told The Express Tribune that Sepa was keeping a very close watch on the environment and those who violated the laws would be taken to court.

Haleem Siddiqui, the chairperson of the Marine Group of Companies, also lauded the efforts of the IUCN and PIBT. He said that though the PIBT had disturbed mangroves on 25 acres, it had gone out of its way to make up for the damage by planting sapling over 500 acres. “I believe that people are more conscious about environmental issues now,” he said.

Aban Marker Kabraji, IUCN’s regional director for Asia, said that by damaging the environment, the country is losing around Rs365 billion each year. “Though the public sector has the strongest and most direct incentives to adapt to climate change, the private sector typically does not take initiative for coastal adaptation as benefits are small or uncertain.”

IUCN’s country representative, Mahmood Akhtar Cheema, said that his organisation has planted around 5 million mangrove saplings in Sindh and Balochistan. He added that mangroves serve as natural barriers against tsunamis and cyclones. “If the ecosystem is protected, the livelihood of many people is protected.”

Myhammad Yaseen Jat, who has been planting mangroves at the site for two years, said, “There was a jungle of mangroves on this area when I was a child.” He added that over the years, the mangrove forests steady vanished and so did the wildlife which inhabited them. But he was very happy at the initiative. “Now my grandchildren will be able to see the same mangrove forests which I did when I was young.”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 22^nd, 2013.