Neglecting a key pollution control tool

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In Pakistan, serious attention to environmental pollution began in the early 1990s. The first major law, the Pakistan Environmental Protection Act of 1997, introduced a framework to monitor pollution. It focused on air pollution from factories and vehicles, water pollution from household and industrial wastewater and land pollution from waste produced by homes, factories and hospitals. However, the law overlooked a key tool for controlling pollution: public awareness. While the government addresses pollution on a large scale, individuals should take responsibility for their local environment. Unfortunately, the law did not emphasise this role for citizens, and government agencies did not effectively promote it.

In developed countries with strong governance, people don't need frequent public service messages. They understand their responsibilities, like placing household waste in designated bins to avoid littering or maintaining their vehicles to keep emissions within limits. Failing to care for the environment can lead to fines from regulatory authorities. People also have personal choices, like walking instead of driving short distances to reduce emissions, even though such actions may not be penalised. Their sense of responsibility encourages them to reduce waste by reusing and recycling household items. This happens when people trust their government to protect the environment while they take care of small, individual actions to support it.

In a poorly governed country like ours, where systems don't work well, expecting people to contribute to improvement is unrealistic. This is why many don't take action to care for the environment at a local level. They argue that if the government isn't doing its part, why should they bother? This creates a conflict where both the government and the public blame each other for not protecting the environment. Meanwhile, civil society tries to stay neutral, not fully aligning with either side, but it often fails to achieve significant results. Limited outreach is another reason why NGOs struggle to make a meaningful impact on environmental issues.

The media often avoids fully covering environmental violations, mainly for financial reasons. Their biggest advertisers are often the worst offenders, and exposing their violations too much could threaten the media's survival. For example, the construction industry's environmental violations are rarely reported because the media can't afford to upset powerful builders. Another excuse is that if regulators aren't stopping these violations, why should the media risk losing their clients? The argument that the media's job is to highlight violations doesn't hold up, as these violations are so obvious that anyone with basic observation skills can see them.

The challenge of raising environmental awareness continues because no one takes full responsibility for it. It's unfair to blame any single group entirely. Even if the government works hard on environmental policies, it struggles to spread the message to every citizen due to limited outreach. A government department focused on environmental care often lacks the budget to also promote awareness effectively. Media outlets won't share environmental messages for free, as they charge for every inch of print space or second of airtime. NGOs can't work voluntarily either, as many people in lower and lower-middle-class communities face poverty and need payment for community development work. Other institutions, like religious or educational organisations, have their own reasons for not participating in this important cause.

Religious leaders are unsure about how much to focus on environmental issues in their sermons. While all religions teach about cleanliness and planting trees, most leaders don't discuss industrial pollution or untreated wastewater in detail or connect these topics to their teachings. They only mention environmental issues casually, often during special occasions, and argue that they must prioritise moral issues, which they believe need constant attention. Some also suspect that environmental concerns are exaggerated by the Western world as a way to distract them from their religious teachings. As a result, religious platforms offer little support for promoting environmental awareness among people.

We can focus on the education sector to teach future generations about protecting the environment. It's often said that when children urge their parents to follow environmental principles, parents are more likely to comply. However, this was more effective when schools taught moral values seriously. Nowadays, education is often focused on making money, and ethical values are neglected, so students don't learn the ethical side of lessons or change their mindsets. The government is still unsure how to include environmental education in the national curriculum because it requires a large budget and proven expertise. Even a privately developed environmental curriculum by an NGO has not been taken seriously by any province's government, as they claim it's too expensive to adopt. This shows how little priority the government gives to environmental education.

The environment is getting worse, and people won't stay unaware for long. Climate change is a big challenge that needs quick action from both individuals and groups. A country that doesn't care about the environment at any level can't effectively fight climate change. However, neither the government nor civil society can just ask for climate funding or grants to tackle pollution first and then focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Donors have the right to question why a country, even after 30 years of environmental policies, still struggles with pollution and expects to raise climate awareness quickly.

To address this, the government and civil society must stop clashing and work together to promote both environmental and climate awareness. In short, climate change is a chance for those who haven't acted to make up for their inaction on environmental issues and involve more people for bigger results.