Protecting the environment: Climate change issue to be taken up at national level

Senate committee for climate change talks about increasing sea pollution and its problems

KARACHI: Pakistan is among the top 10 countries that have been affected by climate change, therefore, the matter will be taken up at national level and the parliament will be asked to address this serious issue, said Senate Committee for Climate Change chairperson Yousaf Badini on Tuesday.

He was addressing the media at Qasr-e-Naz Federal Lodge, along with other committee members. He briefed the media about the committee's upcoming mechanism to tackle the effects of climate change and sea pollution.

After the 18th Amendment, environmental issues are now provincial matters but the sea is not only limited to the provinces and is a national asset, Badini said.

He claimed that there are several government departments that are involved in polluting the sea and instead of rectifying their mistakes they are indulging in the blame game. "We are trying, together with the ministry of climate change, to draw a mechanism and bring all the relevant departments together on one platform, so that we can stop the increasing sea pollution," Badini said.

Referring to the recent briefing of Pakistan Navy to the committee, Badini said that 500 million gallons of untreated waste is dumped into the sea every day, which has increased the amount of acid in the sea. He added that this has also caused damage to the ships and submarines of the Pakistan Navy.

Badini believes that more treatment plants should be installed so that the marine life can be saved from these threatening wastes. He said that dumping industrial waste into the sea is also contributing to polluting it and suggested that the government should ensure that all factory owners must have their own treatment plants. He added that the committee had asked the Sindh government to take measures and control the increasing sea pollution.

Committee's secretary Syed Abu Ahmed Akif said that the Pakistan Navy cannot counter sea pollution and the civic institutions are responsible for protecting the sea from getting polluted. Therefore, he added, the committee wants the provincial government to take effective measures. Speaking about the importance of planting mangroves, senator Nuzhat Sadiq said that these trees act like a wall, stop sea erosion and are the breeding home for many sea species.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 27^th, 2016.