Rising hunger: ‘People and planet not a priority for state’

40% people in the world are malnourished, says speaker

KARACHI: Our state is more worried about making profits and this is our leaders' first priority while people and planet come last, said Aly Ercelan of the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF).

He was speaking at a seminar, titled 'Climate is Changing, Food and Agriculture Must Too', at the Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology (Szabist) 100 campus on Tuesday.

The seminar, which was organised in collaboration with the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (Piler), PFF and Szabist social science department, was held to celebrate World Food Day, which is observed on October 16 annually. Ercelan started his speech by reciting a poem on the sea to reiterate its importance. He also said there is enough food in the country. If there is not enough food, why do we export rice and wheat, he questioned.



He further questioned the social science students about the impact of the Zulfikarabad project. When he got no response, he remarked that we should be aware of the problems in our province. He added that such projects have tremendous environmental and social repercussions. The project has made the lives of fishermen miserable by denying them their livelihood, he added.

He also advised students to avoid consuming fish from the coastal belt of Korangi as the sewerage is dumped into the sea without treatment.

Malnutrition

"There are around 900 million people who are chronically hungry," said Nasir Panhwar from the Centre for Environment and Development, adding that 40% of the world is malnourished.

Stating statistics for climate change, he said that the temperature of the world is likely to rise up to three degrees by 2040 and up to six degrees by the end of the century. A lot of droughts and floods are also predicted, he said.

"It has been predicted that the rate of livestock will decline by 20% to 30%, which will result in shortage of milk, meat and poultry supplies," informed Panhwar, adding that promotion of agroforestry, integrated farming systems and sustainable forest management practices should be adopted to cope with these problems.

Development expert Sono Kangrani also spoke at the event.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 19^th, 2016.