KARACHI: Over 19 metric tonnes of precious food is being annually wasted in hotels and other places of Pakistan with a loss of US$4 billion. Such a massive quantity of food waste should be prevented to feed up to 35 per cent of the country population that live below the poverty line. Pakistan has turned the 5th most vulnerable country to climate change that is causing floods, crop devastation, food deficiency, droughts and ultimately bringing socio-economic losses to the country.

This was informed in Conference on Nexus of Climate Change and Food Security organized at a local hotel in Karachi. Zubala Yasir, an expert from the Food and Science Technology Department of Karachi University, said that climate change had hindered access to good foods as deficiencies had been found in lot of foods. She said that the greenhouse gases, industrial emissions and deforestation had caused climate change, warming earth, degrading crop soil and affecting crop productions. The salt concentration in crops had significantly increased while soil capabilities had reduced, she added.

Zubala said; “Stint growth of plants has also decreased due to climate effects while pos-harvest losses of crops have further risen due to wastages. “The ratio of the arsenic in foods has risen marginally, resultantly, Karachiites has no option but to eat food with high ratio of arsenic.”

She stressed the need for developing join collaborations among organizations to tackle climate change implications and resolve food insecurity issues which are interlinked. Dr Zubala said the constant release of industrial effluents into water bodies had adversely affected the cultivation of food crops in the country.

Sindh Minister for Environment, Climate Change & Coastal Development Dost Muhammad Rahimoon, speaking as the chief guest, said that Pakistan is in grip of climate change and its results were recent floods that badly affected crops, demolished houses besides affecting people’s socio-economic conditions.

Mr Rahimmon said the fast-diminishing farmlands near urban centres due to their conversion into gated housing societies had posed serious threats to Pakistan’s food security. Our food security is at danger due to climate change implications, he added.

The minister said that the Sindh government was making tree plantations time to time and had also raise mangrove cover significantly. Rahimoon said that massive plantations of mangrove forests on the coastal belt and decreased reliance on fossil fuels for energy generation were two key aspects of the Sindh government’s strategy to tackle the issue of climate change.

He assured the audience that the Sindh government had the utmost resolve to take to task those responsible for flouting environmental laws and regulations. The minister invited the concerned members of civil society to become partners with the Sindh government’s drive to improve environmental conditions by upholding the relevant laws against harming the environment.

Speaking as the guest of honour at the conference, the Consul General of Oman, Sami Abdullah Salim Al Khanjari, acknowledged that food security had become a global problem due to the worsening issue of climate change, and Pakistan had also been affected by it.

He shared with the audience the salient features of Vision-2040 of Oman, which stood for maximum reliance on renewable forms of energy and achieving the net zero carbon targets in his country. He said that Oman would further boost ties with Pakistan in food and farming sector. Up to 60 per cent of rice consumed in Oman comes from Pakistan, he told the audience. The diplomat from Oman praised several plantation initiatives launched in Karachi in the current monsoon season to restore the city’s green cover.

Former Sindh Agriculture Secretary, Abdul Rahim Soomro, said that the constant increase in population had mainly threatened Pakistan’s food security. He said the subjects of environment, climate change, agriculture, and food security should be fully devolved to the provinces as per the 18th Constitutional Amendment as the federal government shouldn’t have new ministries to deal with these issues.

He emphasized the use of the latest technology to increase per acre crop yield in Pakistan to ensure its food security. He said that freshwater should be constantly released to protect the Indus River Delta and Sindh’s resource-rich marine ecosystem. He urged the federal government to release its promised share of funds for constructing five combined effluent treatment plants in Karachi to ensure that untreated industrial waste was not released into the sea.

Former Sindh Forests and Wildlife secretary, Shamsul Haq Memon, urged the government to adopt effective mitigation measures on an urgent basis against environmental degradation given that Pakistan is among the top five most climate-vulnerable nations.

NFEH President, Naeem Qureshi, stated with serious concern: “Over 19 metric tonnes of precious food is being annually wasted in the country with a loss US$ 4 billion. He said that such a massive quantity of food waste should be prevented to feed up to 35 per cent of the population in Pakistan that lived below the poverty line.

“Over 19 metric tonnes of precious food is being annually wasted in hotels and other places of Pakistan with a loss of US$4 billion. Such a massive quantity of food waste should be prevented to feed up to 35 per cent of the country population that live below the poverty line,” Qureshi added.

Ruqiya Naeem, NFEH, General Secretary, said that her NGO would continue to hold more such dialogues by inviting all the concerned stakeholders to find a way to reverse the phenomenon of environmental degradation.

Also on the occasion, the Sindh Environment Minister and UAE and Oman Consuls’ Generals conferred Annual Environment Excellence Awards on over 80 companies and prominent journalist M Nawaz Khuhro, the Bureau Chief of PPI Karachi, for showing excellence work on environment.

Syed M Omar Arif, Environmental Engineer, EMC Pakistan, Abu Bakar Ismail, Head of Energy and Sustainability, Amreli Steels, Wali Haider, Joint Director, Roots for Equity, Rana Awais Khan, Chairman, National Alliance for Safe Food, Shams ul Haq Memon, Advisor, NFEH also spoke on this occasion.

of valuable state land. It was also agreed between the two to nominate deserving officers from NAB and the Sindh government for Civil Awards, in acknowledgement of their outstanding service to the state.

Concluding the meeting, the Chairman of the National Accountability Bureau presented the Chief Minister of Sindh with copies of the updated and corrected Revenue Records of the forestland, recently compiled and rectified following the successful retrieval of the land through joint efforts of NAB and pertinent departments of the Government of Sindh. The Chief Minister and Chairman NAB reaffirmed their commitment to a strong collaborative partnership to combat corruption and ensure accountability across the board.