Looming threats of acute shortage of water due to lack of protection of the Wetlands

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Looming threats of acute shortage of water due to lack of protection of the Wetlands

Industrial affluent is entering in in Keenjhar Lake and other water resources, Climate Change is also affecting the water resources – Seminar
Karachi (Jamshed Bukhar): Due to Climate Change and by not protecting the water resources and wetlands, Pakistan will face acute water shortage in the future. Besides, it can also affect the crops which can create food shortage. These thoughts were expressed by the speakers at a Seminar organized by IUCN (an international organization for the protection of nature) in collaboration with the Sindh Coastal Development Authority and Fisheries at Keenjhar Lake (Thatta) on the World Wetlands Day.
Besides, students of the colleges, various experts from different sectors also participated in the Seminar.
Mr. Mahmood Akhtar Cheema, Country Representative of IUCN Pakistan, Mr. Shamsul Haq Memon, Consultant, Sindh Coastal Development Authority, Director General Fisheries, Sindh, Mr. Ghulam Mohammad Meher and Project Director, Sindh Coastal Development Authority also spoke in the Seminar, whereas Director General, Sindh Coastal Authority, Mr. Muhammad Pathan was the special guest at the occasion.
Mr. Mahmood Akhtar Cheema said that consumption of water has increased with the increase in the population. We used to have per capita 5,000-6,000 cusecs of water which has been reduced to 1,000 cusecs. Due to Climate Change and improper system there will be shortage of water. Sometimes heavy rains can cause floods and sometimes dryspells can affect the crops.
Shamsul Haq Memon said that conservation of wetlands is extremely important for the economic development. Wetlands are not only major source of food, but also provide wood and fodder for the cattle and other needs of life. They provide livelihoods to thousands of people. But now the wetlands are facing a lot of threats due to Climate Change. They are facing natural and man-made calamities. Ghulam Qadir Shah said that Pakistan has 230 wetlands out of them 46 are protected areas spanning over 1500 hactres of land. These wetlands play crucial role in the growth of mangroves. A patch of 600 meter mangrove forest can reduce the effect of the Tsumani wave upto 80%. These wetlands provide habitat to a lot of animals. Now the affluent from the Kotri Industrial area is being released into Keenjhar Lake which extremely hazardous for human health. They said that if the protection will not provided to the wetlands, the coming generations will face a lot of problem in the future.

http://e.jang.com.pk/02-04-2013/Karachi/pic.asp?picname=07_19.gi

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About jamshedgulbukhari

Jamshed Gul Bukhari (Pakistan) is affiliated with the premier Urdu newspaper the Daily Jang simultaneously published from six big cities of Pakistan – Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Quetta, Multan and Peshawar. Besides, the Daily Jang is published from London (UK) as an international paper. Jamshed writes from Karachi and covers local, provincial, inter-provincial and national news. He reports on religious, political, socio-economic, environment and other human-interest development. Jamshed has been affiliated with the Daily Jang since the past thirteen years. He is the recipient of many national and international awards on various most-viewed stories of different sectors. He has master’s degrees in mass-communication and political science with an additional degree in law. He has been teaching mass communication as a visiting faculty at the Federal Urdu University since the last seven years.

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