Earth Day: Nature lovers call for Margalla Hills’ preservation

Demand city administration take strict action against those violating the natural habitat

With Pakistan among the top 10 countries most affected by climate change, it was imperative to make efforts to preserve the earth and its resources.

This was elaborated at a combination of colourful activities organised for children and the youth at the Margalla Hills Trail-5 Information Centre on Saturday to mark Earth Day.



Development Communications Network (Devcom-Pakistan), Islamabad LEAD Club, Sustainable Tourism Foundation Pakistan (STFP) and Islamabad Devcom Centennial Leo Club (IDCLC) had jointly organised a seminar, a painting competition, and a nature walk to spread awareness about the earth and preserving its natural resources.

Children between ages eight and 18 years painted how they thought the earth should be saved or how awareness should be raised about preserving precious natural. There were paintings about forests with messages about how cutting trees was harmful to the planet.



Some children also painted images of aquatic life and of people hiking hills, to raise awareness of both, the earth’s resources and how they were being exploited.

“We have only one earth and we need to pledge to take care of it,” said Zobia Jameel who was participating in the painting competition. “Such art competitions give us the opportunity to reflect what is in our hearts and what we feel about the exploitation of natural resources,” she added.

While the competition was for children, it did not stop some of the older participants of the seminar from joining in and drawing what they felt about the issue.

Later the participants were divided into groups who trekked the Margalla Hills to spread awareness about natural resources and the need to preserve them.



Devcom-Pakistan Director Munir Ahmed spoke about the exploitation and the misuse of natural resources in and around the federal capital, especially in the Margalla Hills National Park.

He noted that there were a number of illegally-built restaurants which continuously discharged their waste into nearby streams, causing immense ecological damage.

Ahmed demanded that the city administrators take serious action against such restaurants and how were these establishments were allowed in the first place. He warned that they would take matters into their own hands if the city management failed to address this soon enough.

Renowned biodiversity specialist ZB Mirza said that the Margalla Hills, which form the foothills of the Himalayas, was rich in biodiversity and was home to around 600 species of plants and over 300 species of animals. However, he said that constant human interventions and environmentally unfriendly practices threatened the biological diversity of the park.

He lamented that the civic agencies had failed to check misuse of the park.

Capital Development Authority (CDA) Executive Director General Sanaullah Aman urged everyone to keep the environment safe and stressed on utilising resources in a non-exhaustive manner while guarding against overuse.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 23^rd, 2017.