Tag Archives: biodiversity

Climate Change in Shigar Valley

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Climate Change in Shigar Valley

Changes in Local Climate – Precipitation and Temperature Analysis

 

The aspects of changes in local climate that were assessed included the following:

Change in winter temperatures

The climate of Shigar can be classified as dry continental Mediterranean. The general

perception of the community members was that the winter season has become milder and shorter, and summer is now considerably warmer. April and May were characterized by moderate temperatures, while summer season was identified as very hot, with temperatures

reaching about 400C in July.

The respondents reported a definite increase in winter temperatures over the past 5 years. A few villagers, including a village head, reported that minimum winter temperature has

increased from about -250C (5 years ago) to about -120C in the past 2 years. The village head also mentioned that in 1996 the minimum winter temperature fell to -360C. Respondents

further stated that till 5-10 years ago, winter lasted from November till February and now it

starts in December. They added that there is hardly any snowfall anymore, while 10-15 years ago snowfall was a continuous feature in winter. Earlier, pots would break, oil would freeze, and trees and birds would perish during the harsh winter season.

Discussions revealed that about 5 years ago people required several blankets (3–4) to keep them warm in winters, but since the past 2–3 years one blanket suffices the need. The complete

stock of quilts and blankets in each household is no longer required. Further, the community members said that there has been a drastic reduction in the use of woolen clothing and carpets in homes. Additionally, pedestal fans were never needed in summers before, but now they are in common use. Conversely, now few bukharis (heaters) are needed to warm houses.

6 Community Perceptions on Climate Change in Shigar Valley – A Case Study

Change in quantity of fuelwood required for heating in winters

Respondents reported a reduction of atleast 50% in the use of fuelwood by households during

winters, in the past 5 years. According to one village resident, his fuelwood consumption has drastically reduced, from 200 kg to 25 kg.

Change in flowering time of fruit trees

The main fruit tree species in Shigar are apple, apricot, cherry and pear. A shift in the

flowering time, by about 7–15 days, was reported to have taken place during the past 5-10

years. Previously, flowering took place in mid-April, but since 2007 fruit trees blossom

between the last week of March and the first week of April.

Change in location / altitude of pasture sites

The study revealed that there are 22 grazing sites for the 22 villages of Shigar Town. In other words, there is one site designated to one village. Permission is needed to use another

village’s site.

The respondents were asked to quantify the number of hours it took to travel to the pastures in 2003, as opposed to in 2007-08. The response to this question was divided. 53% of the persons that were interviewed reported that there has been a change in their travel time; some reported a lengthening of travel time by about 2-3 hours, denoting that they now had to travel to higher altitudes to reach good pastures. However, it needs to be mentioned here that thedisparity in response may be due to the varied locations of the pastures that are used by the respondent. The pastures which are already at a higher altitude may not have undergone any change, while those located at lower altitudes may have dried; hence forcing the communities

to go higher up the mountains.

All respondents reported that the quality and quantity of grass in pastures had deteriorated,

due to a decrease in precipitation since 2005-06. The grass that was waist high earlier was now only knee high. Moreover, 10-15 years ago, livestock grazing took 1-2 hours, but now it takes a whole day. However, one respondent notified that fodder is easily available now, due to early greening of trees.

http://e.jang.com.pk/11-17-2013/karachi/mag8.asp

Questions regarding Margalla Hills tunnel !

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Questions regarding Margalla Hills Tunnel  !

The Capital Development Authority (CDA) is currently working on an estimated US$12 billion mega-project which includes building a twin capital across the Margalla Hills, connecting the two with a tunnel. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, despite severe opposition from politicians and members of the civil society, has directed CDA to continue working on the project.

I raised these questions :
The digging of tunnel in Margalla Hills a sheer violation of the law governing the Margalla Hills National Park.
Firstly, building a tunnel through the Margalla Hills would be a flagrant violation of the laws covering the Margalla Hills National Park, which is protected from construction of any kind under the law of the land.
Secondly such a tunnel through the beautiful Margalla Hills would be a serious threat to the environment of Margalla Hills National Park and Islamabad and this would cause irreparable damage to the ecology and beauty of Islamabad, which is one of the most beautiful capitals of the world.
Thirdly, this decision seems to have been taken in a hurry since even the official procedure for processing and permitting such projects has not been followed, as such projects require approval of the Planning Commission and sanction by the ECNEC as well as the NOC of the Environment Protection Agency.

The Supreme Court has also taken a suo motu notice of the project and sought replies from the government.

http://e.jang.com.pk/10-27-2013/karachi/mag6.asp

Nanga Parbat incident to harm tourism!

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Nanga Parbat incident to harm tourism!

The objective behind this attack appeared to tarnish our image and discourage tourism in Pakistan.

President of the Sustainable Tourism Foundation Pakistan Aftab-ur-Rehman has said that killing of foreign climbers in a terror attack at Nanga Parbat base camp will have negative impact on the tourism in the country. Aftab-ur-Rehman urged the govt to take wide ranging policy measures to woo back the tourists, who had been scared away due to terrorist activities. He called for beefing up security measures at tourist resorts, particularly in upper Kyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgil Baltistan.
He said tourism could be a massive source of earning foreign exchange for the country in the presence of tourist attractions from stunning Himalayan peaks, beautiful lakes, scenic valleys and centuries-old civilization etc.
But unfortunately this potential has largely remained untapped due to the lethargic attitude of authorities concerned, he regretted.
He said the tourism was ignored by the previous government. Law and order situation badly hurt the tourism, but unnecessary restrictions on the travelling of foreign tourists to various tourist spots made the matters worse.
Aftab said now foreign tourists need an NOC for travelling to most of the places in Pakistan and it is almost impossible to get this NOC well on time due to lengthy and tedious procedure.
He said there is also need to pay serious attention to facilitate our own domestic tourists. There is a large number of domestic tourists interested in exploring their own homeland but the dilapidated tourism infrastructure and high cost of boarding and lodging, coupled with poor standard of services at tourist spots, discourage them to do so, he said.
He said the new government should give tourism its due status of a leading sector of economy and put the industry back on the path to progress.
He said terrorism could easily be defeated with promoting the tourism industry, which would create job and income generation opportunities for the insolvent people of far flung areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit Baltistan.

http://e.jang.com.pk/07-07-2013/karachi/mag5.asp

 

 

Medicinal Plants depleting in Northern Pakistan due to Climatic Change and anthropogenic activities.

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Principal Scientific Officer of PCSIR Labs. Peshawar Mr. Shahid Faruq  revealed in his radio interview that in Pakistan there are more than 10010 species of Medicinal plants in Pakistan.More than 300 are these high altitude areas.Some of the plants are depleting due to their high value and are exported to other countries.

Mr.Shaid Faruq is a Botanist and has co-authored  a book on medicinal plants of Pakistan and is carrying research on medicinal plants.He was invited  to our live programme “Climatic Change and its effect” broadcast live from PBC Peshawar on NBS(NCAC) Network for three days.

Mr.Shahid Faruq also revealed that 9 species are endemic to northern Pakistan and are exploited too much.One specie is used for antimalarial drug in China.

Global warming and excessive anthropogenic  activities ,over population and floods are the main cause for the depletion of these species.He said that anthropogenic activities are the main cause for this world heritage loss.

PLease listen to programme on the link

India’s clean energy at the cost of biodiversity?

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Of India’s more than two lakh megawatt power capacity, only 12.2 percent is generated from renewable sources. If you add hydro power to this, the ratio goes up to 30.81 percent, according to the ministry of power.

After the launch of the National Solar Mission in 2010, solar energy’s share in renewables went up from zero to 18 percent in under two years. Even though energy generated from renewable sources is increasing, many complain that capacity addition is not happening fast enough in the country. In 2012, while China invested almost $65 billion in clean energy, India invested only a tenth of that at $6.9 billion.

While environmentalists are egging on the government to invest more in clean energy, advocates of biodiversity conservation are taking up cudgels against them. They argue that the energy may be clean but it comes at the cost of eroding biodiversity. There are two areas where this clash is intensifying: wastelands and forests.

Read more: http://www.firstpost.com/blogs/indias-clean-energy-at-the-cost-of-biodiversity-842789.html

Forest lovers see red over green power

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Biodiversity conservationists say that solar, wind and hydel power projects sound the death knell for many animal species

Of India’s more than two lakh megawatt power capacity, only 12.2 percent is generated from renewable sources. If you add hydro power to this, the ratio goes up to 30.81 percent, according to the ministry of power.

After the launch of the National Solar Mission in 2010, solar energy’s share in renewables went up from zero to 18 percent in under two years. Even though energy generated from renewable sources is increasing, many complain that capacity addition is not happening fast enough in the country. In 2012, while China invested almost $65 billion in clean energy, India invested only a tenth of that at $6.9 billion.

While environmentalists are egging on the government to invest more in clean energy, advocates of biodiversity conservation are taking up cudgels against them. They argue that the energy may be clean but it comes at the cost of eroding biodiversity. There are two areas where this clash is intensifying: wastelands and forests.

Read more: http://forbesindia.com/blog/economy-policy/forest-lovers-see-red-over-green-power/#ixzz2VJEQULMY

Food Security in Pakistan

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My latest article on World Environment day. The theme of 2013 is Think, Eat and Save.

In this article, I described food security situation in Pakistan.

Climate change stressed our water resources and agriculture sector.Food shortages are becoming a pervasive danger and food insecurity a constant worry. More than half of Pakistan’s population is food insecure, anemic and malnourished. For those who are categorized as surviving on less than a dollar a day, a meal is just a naan or chapatti with a cup of tea, or maybe an onion or chillies. Even the middle class is unable to afford meat every day, and homemakers are hard-pressed to plan nutritious diets on severely constrained budgets.

Frequent weather changes trigger shifting patterns in crop growth, leading to lowered production, rising prices and inadequate means to feed the world’s hungry millions.

Environmental reports warn that the economic and human costs of natural disasters are likely to become more severe with climate change.

Pakistan itself has alarmingly high levels of malnutrition, or ‘hidden hunger’; nearly 24 per cent of the population is undernourished. The Food and Agriculture Organisation findings say that 37.5 million people do not receive adequate nourishment. Widespread deficiencies are rampant ranging from protein and iron to iodine deficiencies. Poverty is the main causative factor, leading to low consumption of food and use of foods with low nutritional value. Higher food prices hurt the poorest the most, especially the landless poor and female-headed households

http://e.jang.com.pk/06-02-2013/karachi/mag10.asp

50 per cent of Wetlands lost globally in last one century: UN

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RAMESH PRASAD BHUSHAL

HYDERABAD (INDIA), Oct 17: The most important Ecosystem in the Earth- the Wetlands, are depleting so rapidly that half of them have disappeared from the earth in last one century, according to the United Nations report launched today in Hyderabad, India.

“In last one century, the world lost an estimated 50 per cent of its wetlands, while recent coastal wetland loss in some places, notably East Asia, has been up to 1.6 per cent a year,” said the report ´The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity for Water and Wetlands´

The Ramsar Convention defines wetlands as areas of marsh, fen, peatland or water, whether natural or artificial, permanent or temporary, with water that is static or flowing, fresh, brackish or salt, including areas of marine water, the depth of which at low tide does not exceed six meters.

The wetlands were lost mainly due to factors such as intensive agricultural production, unsustainable water extraction for domestic and industrial use, urbanization, infrastructure development and pollution, the report said.

Nepal boasts of nine wetlands of international importance recognized by Ramsar Convention and is also the signatory of the convention. “Countries like Nepal which is poor may have to face more threats as the urbanisation is rapid and the country has other more pressing priorities,” Nick Davidson, Deputy Secretary General of Ramsar Convention Secretariat told Republica.

But experts said governments all over the world were slowly giving recognition to wetlands and their importance which is appreciable. “It´s not enough. The key role that rapidly diminishing wetlands play in supporting human life and biodiversity needs to be recognized more and integrated into decision making as a vital component of the transition to a resource efficient, sustainable world economy,” added Davidson.

According to the report, water security is widely regarded as one of the key natural resource challenges currently facing the world, and human drivers of ecosystem change including destructive extractive industries, unsustainable agriculture and poorly managed urban expansion are posing threat to global freshwater biodiversity and water security for eighty percent of the world´s population.

“Policies and decisions often do not take into account the many services that wetlands provide-thus leading to the rapid degradation and loss of wetlands globally, said UN Under-Secretary General and UN Environment Programme Executive Director, Achim Steiner.

According to the Ramsar Convention, Inland wetlands cover at least 9.5 million square kilometers (about 6.5 per cent of the Earths land surface). “If we undervalue wetlands in our decisions for economic growth, we do at our increasing peril for people´s livelihoods and the world´s economies, added Davidson.

Published on 2012-10-17 05:40:02