Daily Times

The world is no longer unaware of the perils of climate change and ocean acidification. We cannot afford to look at global warming as merely a probable future. The polar ice caps are melting, ocean temperature, pH and sea levels are rising, and we are well on our way to hotter summers. Since the early 1900s, nearly half of the world’s wetlands have been eradicated. Yet the environment does not seem to be on our list of priorities. An example of our egregious degradation of the environment is the extensive, unchecked deforestation by timber mafias and governments alike. Mangrove forests, the backbone of our coastal estuarine ecosystem, covered 400,000 hectares of land in 1965 according to the Pakistan Forest Institute; a study in 2011 showed that mangrove cover has been reduced to about 98,128 hectares.

This drastic decline is not only shocking because the 110 known species of trees in the mangrove forests represent a significant chunk of the region’s biodiversity, but also because they are essential to the topography of the region. Networks of mangrove roots hold the soil together, create a crosscurrent of fresh and sea water for various different estuarine species to survive in and provide a breeding ground for many of the smaller fish and animals that inhabit the sea. Whilst the overfishing of the coasts has devastated these ecosystems, it is the destruction of the mangroves that has caused the most damage, destroying the habitats of many diverse species. Rapidly rising sea levels as a result of global warming are causing the fresh river water in the Indus estuary to become increasingly saline, threatening the survival of freshwater species and limiting the quality of drinking water available for the local population. The Delta houses 18 species of endangered mammals including the Indus River dolphin, 20 species of endangered birds and over 986 species of fish, in addition to reptiles, plants, etc. A threat to the mangroves is a threat to the Delta, which in turn is a threat to biodiversity, the fishing industry and the agricultural economy.

The wetlands of Pakistan either provide or affect all of our drinking water and are the main source for our fisheries. Of the 225 wetlands, only 46 are under some kind of protection. They are threatened by the removal of vegetation, dumping of industrial, agricultural and human waste, etc. It is imperative for policies protecting and sustaining the wetlands and the environment as a whole to be put in place. As the devastating effects of the destruction of the mangrove forests show, threatening one aspect of an ecosystem threatens its entirety; hence, synergistic environmental interactions must be kept in mind whilst determining environmental policy. *