Daily Times

Experts on Sunday estimate that environmental degradation is costing Pakistan’s economy over Rs 365 billion loss every year and if proper measures would not be adopted, the loss may be increased to beyond Rs 450 billion.

Talking to APP, the experts calculated that national loss of Rs 365 billion may include inadequate water supply, sanitation and hygiene accounts for Rs112 billion, agricultural soil degradation Rs 70 billion, indoor pollution Rs 67 billion, urban air pollution Rs 65 billion, lead exposure Rs 45 billion and land degradation and deforestation Rs 6 billion. They believe that the fast pace vanishing bio-diversity and land degradation have seriousimpacts on climate change and resulting in ecological imbalance.

According to a document of Finance Division, the above-mentioned loss figure on Biodiversity and soil degradation included food securities, water and air pollution causing widespread diseases, adaptation to the impact of climate change for energy, preparedness for adaptation or mitigation due to climate change and to avail opportunities under Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).

Likewise, the document informed that preparedness for an effective disaster management, so as to avoid damage to the environment i.e watershed degradation and deforestation, is need of the time.

A good management of liquid, solid, hazardous waste green economy improved human well-being and social equity can significantly reduce environmental risks and ecological scarcities’ initiatives and its impact on Pakistan, it added.

Noted biodiversity scientist Abdul Wadood told APP that the unsustainable housing policies and timber mafia was the biggest threats to the green and agricultural land of Pakistan, causing immense threats to ever rapidly decreasing forests and biodiversity.

In this situation, he urged the government to impose emergency on nature conservation protecting green and agricultural lands to preserve 260 million people from climate hazards, water and food insecurity. To a query, Wadood said that ‘mountain resources’ were on the edge of threat, particularly despite several sustainable development and conservation.

Pakistan needs to eliminate the highhandedness of the timber and land mafias that are over-exploiting the natural resources including chopping off forests and damaging ecological habitats and systems, he said, urging that strict implementation of the legislation was needed to wipe off the hindrances to nature conservation.

Mahmood Khalid Qamar, a noted environmentalist told APP while making comparison with natural resource-based livelihoods to production of ecosystem services, the green economy can help mitigate poverty and enhance environmental sustainability implementation of planned programme and initiative, with efficacy to increase green (forest) cover and biodiversity reducing land degradation, effluent treatment at source to avoid discharge of polluted industrial and domestic sewage to fresh water-bodies and maintain marine environment.

Increasing energy efficiency with focus on conservations measures, fast pace moving urbanization and industrialization is leading to serious environmental concerns in natural resources’ depletion, resulting from accelerated economic and social transformation, he added.

WWF-International Senior Expert on Area-based Conservation Rab Nawaz said that Pakistan water resources were depleting at a fast pace with degradation for forests and biodiversity, despite several conservation efforts and best practices.

Climate Change Division official sources said the government to overcome eco-degradation hazards was implementing various policies and programmes, many of which have come out of the National Environment Action Programme (NEAP). Rab Nawaz from WWF, while commenting on the progress that Pakistan had made on Convention of Biological Diversity informed that there have been some great successes on bending the curve such as the Indus Blind Dolphin where the population was recovering slowly but surely.

The national animal of Pakistan, the Kashmir Markhor has been brought back from the verge of extinction, he added.

Describing some key programmes and policies that have stemmed from NEAP included Clean Drinking Water for All, Air and Water Quality Monitoring, Pakistan Wetlands Programme, Sustainable Land Management to Combat Desertification in Pakistan, National Sanitation Policy, Environmental Rehabilitation and Poverty Reduction through Participatory Watershed Management in Tarbela Reservoir and Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy etc, he informed.

Pakistan is facing numerous environmental threats that are affecting its sustainable economic future. Amongst, land degradation has emerged as the worst warning.

According to a recent pioneering study on the subject, the costs of land degradation in South Asian countries that include India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Bhutan) is at least US$ 10 billion annually. This is approximately 2 percent of the region’s GDP which is equal to 7 percent of the value of its agricultural output.

The study finds he breakdown of losses, according to types of land degradation value is increased or decreased are: water erosion US$ 5.4 billion; The study further found that in all, 140 million hectares, which is equal to 43 percent of the region’s total agricultural land, suffered from one or the other form of land degradation. Of this, 31 million hectares were strongly degraded and 63 million hectares moderately degraded. The worst country affected was Iran, with 94 percent of agricultural land degraded, followed by Bangladesh (75 percent), Pakistan (61 percent), Sri Lanka (44 percent), Afghanistan (33 percent), Nepal (26 percent), India (25 percent) and Bhutan (10 percent).

Noted biodiversity experts Muhammad Moazzam Khan said with a long coastline, Pakistan’s Marine Biodiversity supports a large seafood industry of Pakistan that produces about 450,000 metric tons of fish and shell-fish and a source of export earnings of around US $ 480 million annually. It is also a major source of livelihood for coastal communities living along the 1,000 km coast which provides employment to about 10 million people. It contributes about one percent to national GDP and 4 percent of Agriculture GDP, he added.

Describing another key reason, Khan said that marine-biodiversity of Pakistan was being threatened by uncontrolled commercial fishing operations in coastal and offshore waters using some of the deleterious fishing actions and undesirable practices. In Pakistan, land degradation mainly encompasses deforestation and desertification, salinity and sodicity, soil erosion, water logging, depletion of soil fertility and negative nutrient balances, he added.