Climate change to be taught as subject at university level

Provincial govt keen on raising awareness to avoid the negative effects of climate change

KARACHI:

In the wake of the devastating floods, the Sindh government has decided to introduce climate change as a subject in universities across the province.

This will help raise awareness on the issue, according to provincial environment minister Ismail Rahoo.

"Pakistan is one of the countries worst affected by climate change in the world.

If we fail to raise awareness today, then our coming generations will face the consequences of climate change," Rahoo said on Sunday.

"Climate change has been declared the biggest threat to the modern world." The minister directed the secretary of the Universities & Boards Department and all the vice-chancellors to work out modalities for introducing climate change as a subject at the university level, said a statement issued by the department's spokesperson.

The minister said that Sindh has been suffering from extreme climatic conditions such as high temperatures and droughts.

There is an urgent need to provide basic information to university students to avoid the negative effects of climate change, he added.

"Teaching climate change as a subject in universities will help improve the quality of human health.

This may also help in solving the problems of marine pollution, industrial waste management and hospital waste discharge," he said.