Pakistan has very modest hydrocarbon reserves and its consumption of petrochemicals does not see it take up a spot in the top 15 countries who import oil. Yet, factories in the country pump out a staggering 624,200 tonnes of plastic every year and 164,332 tonnes of it finds itself in River Indus, flowing freely into the Arabian Sea. In effect, this makes the Indus the second most polluted river in the world, behind only China’s Yangtze.
A large cross-section of Pakistan’s bustling 207 million population lives along River Indus — from Gilgit-Baltistan to Sindh. Trash and garbage produced by these people are dumped into the river — a convenient carrier. What is alarming is that we all — from the moment the Indus flows as more than a few streams in the north, to where it empties into the sea in the south — tend to be comfortable in dumping our trash into our precious life source with such reckless abandon.
The environmental impacts are significant. From clogging waterways to causing the death of marine animals — many have been rescues of the few blind dolphins in the Indus who were caught up in plastic sheets and other items. Even in the sea, over the past decade, it has been getting harder and harder for fishermen to catch fish in freshwater. Yes, the government has embarked on a campaign to phase out plastic, starting from bottles and shopping bags. But progress has been slow and the campaign needs to be more aggressive.
Two photographs went viral this year. One from the hillsides in Naran and the other from the port in Karachi. The common aspects of both? Trash — especially plastic — littered everywhere. This cannot continue. Karachi suffers from this first hand whenever it rains — drains clogged with plastic bags cause the city to drown every time. Unless we want the entire country to drown in our river of trash, it is time we all took extreme action.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 27th, 2019.
Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ