Experts at a seminar on World Ozone Day (WOD) emphasized the role that the youth could play in conserving the environment and, in particular, the “fragile” mountain ecosystem.
The seminar “Sustainable Mountain Development Asia-Pacific Youth Position on Rio+20” was organised by the Karakoram International University (KIU), World Wild Fund and Gilgit-Baltistan Forest Wildlife and Environment Department, in Gilgit on Saturday.
“The youth can bring positive environmental changes through inspirational stories, networking and forming interest groups on specific environmental issues,” said Dr Salma Durrani, Head of the Environmental Science Department of KIU.
Kamran Hussain, representing the forest department, said, “[The seminar] was basically meant to disseminate information about ‘Youth Forum on Climate Change and Mountain Issues’ conducted [between August 8 and August 12].” He said that the forum provided the youth of the Asia-Pacific region, including the Hindu-Kush-Himalayan range, to convey their concerns to global policy makers.
“To overcome the issues of institutional barriers, the concept of Sustainable Development (SD) Governance also called Global Governance has been introduced,” Hussain said.
He said the current economic models are affecting the environment and natural resources, due to which the global ecological footprint exceeds by 30%.The financial economic crises, and inequality are contributing to an accelerated degradation processes. “It is therefore imperative to develop a different economic model to sustain our economic growth,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 19th, 2011.
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