KARACHI: Pakistan Peoples Party (PP) MPA Ms Sharmila Farooqui on Sunday stressed the need to raise urban forests in Karachi and other cities of Sindh to reduce the impact of climate change that is affecting social and business life.
Karachi temperature in 60 years has risen by three degrees centigrade while Sindh province has warmed by two degrees, which is dangerous for citizens, hence, there is urgent need to raise urban forests, mangroves and riverine forests to tackle climate change, she said while talking to media after launching tree plantation in Clifton Urban Forest in Karachi today, which was organized by Sygenta, a non-governmental organization, to mark the 75 Independence Day of Pakistan.
Sharmila said that the Sindh government had taken hectic steps to raise urban forestry in Karachi to reduce impacts of climate change that is affecting socio-economic life. Non-governmental organizations, like Sygenta, are adding trees in urban forestry that is a good omen, she adds.
She said that cities, towns and other urban areas in the country are more vulnerable to the growing impacts of climate change due to high amounts of paved surfaces, increased pollution, denser human population, and concentration of built structures; therefore,. Pakistan needs to raise forest cover upto international standard which requires every country should have 33 percent of total land under forest cover. It is ironic that our forest cover is very low.
She said Pakistan is maintaining a total of 4.786 million-hectare of land (5.45 percent) under forest cover. Within the forest cover area, dry temperate forests hold the largest share of 36 percent, followed by sub-tropical broadleaved shrub 19 percent, moist temperate 15 percent, Chir Pine 13 percent, riverine 4 percent, irrigated plantation 4 percent, thorn 3 percent, mangrove 3 percent and subalpine forests 2 percent, she informed.
Sharmila said that the meager forest cover area due to growing population, and dependence on the natural resources coupled with deforestation have rendered the country one of the most vulnerable to climate change effects. As a result, natural resources are under tremendous pressure owing to change of land use and habitat destruction and consumption of fuel wood and timber extraction.
She said that such pressures have rendered most of the forests of poor and medium density in need of drastic restocking on war footing. Climate change is caused by an increase of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in earth’s atmosphere mostly from fossil fuel emissions. She said: “In Pakistan, environmental degradation and climate change are adversely affecting the economy, livelihood of the poor and sustainable development.”
Sharmila said that on the one hand, growing population, unplanned urban expansion and dependence on natural resources puts immense pressure on the environment that triggered climate change. Moreover, lack of public awareness regarding environmental issues and mismanagement of water and solid waste has aggravated the situation. Consequently, Pakistan continues to suffer from a plethora of natural and human induced hazards that threaten the lives and livelihood of its citizens – natural disasters including floods, earthquakes, landslides, cyclones and drought, she added.
The Government of Pakistan has evolved policy frameworks backed by strategy to address various aspects of the climate change including major policy and climate related interventions. In this context, the Ministry of Climate Change (MoCC) has taken different initiatives to mitigate the effects of environment and climate, Sharmila concluded.