The dark ages: ‘In the city of lights, 3 million people will have none by 2030’

Speakers stress importance of renewable sources and want Pakistan to follow the EU.

KARACHI:

Over 1.3 billion people around the world do not have access to electricity and 2.6 billion rely on primitive biomass for cooking and heating, according to the International Energy Agency report.

“By 2030, a further 700 million people in South and East Asia, including three million in Karachi, will be without electricity,” said Seimens technical adviser Irfan Ahmed at a workshop on ‘Environmental Policies and Practices in the European Union (EU) and Pakistan: A Comparison’, organised by the Area Study Centre for Europe (ASCE), University of Karachi and the Hanns Seidel Foundation Islamabad on Thursday.



“There is no political desire to solve the energy crisis or maybe our government is not interested in renewable energy projects because of their initial costs,” he added, while giving a presentation on ‘Wind and Solar Energy: EU experiences and its Lessons for Pakistan’. “We focus on nuclear, thermal and hydroelectric projects that require a decade to complete, while wind and energy projects can be completed in only one or two years. The EU is already generating more than 10 per cent of its electricity from renewable sources, such as solar and wind power.”

Ahmed said that the EU is energy insecure due to its dependency on fossil fuel supply and China is energy insecure too because of its fast-growing population, while Pakistan can be energy secure but is suffering due to a stress on inefficient, wasteful and lender-driven policies. He also recommended that the provinces share energy resources, following the footsteps of EU states.

Ambassador (retd) Shafquat Kakakhel, in his paper on ‘National Environmental Policy 2005 Pakistan: Disparity in Practices’, said that all environmental policies implemented in the country end up going to waste and stressed on the need to promote sustainable use of natural resources.

He talked about various policies and the legislative framework constituted by past and present governments, focusing on the National Environment Policy 2005. The country first took an initiative in 1997 when the Pakistan Environmental Protection Act was passed in December 1997. Since then, around 20 major legislations relating to climate change and environmental issues have been formalised. Kakakhel further said that implementation of policies and challenges such as the population ‘explosion’, fast depleting natural resources and the shortage of water, food and energy, constitute some of the major issues faced by the country.

“The EU has one of the most progressive environmental policies in the world,” said ASCE director Prof Dr Uzma Shujaat. “During the last 30 years, the EU has adopted a diverse range of environmental measures.”

Shehri-Citizens for a Better Environment executive member Roland deSouza presented a paper on ‘Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions, Industrial Waste Management in EU and Pakistan’. According to deSouza, EU is a major GHG emitter, while Pakistan is a minor one but the problem lies in the consumption of resources, with exploding populations and changing lifestyles drastically increasing Pakistan’s demands.

“According to some scientists, we are committing ecological suicide and they warn that the global population will drop from seven to one billion by 2100,” said deSouza, adding that Pakistan is third on the the Climate Risk Index 2012.

Habib University dean of School of Science and Engineering Dr Shoaib Zaidi, presented a paper on ‘Policies and Practices: The Role of Education’ while a research fellow at the ASCE also read a paper on ‘Case study of Gilgit- Baltistan and the role of NGOs in Dealing with Environmental Problems.’ A large number of students and faculty members attended the workshop.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 7^th, 2014.