Daily Times

NGOs play a significant role in developing society, improving communities and promoting citizen participation. In today’s world, as much as we appreciate the efforts of non-government, and non-profit organizations, their work in the development sector is genuinely commendable. The world as we see it today is very different from the ideal world that we would like to imagine living in. In today’s world we are victims of multiple types of social, economic and even ethnic barriers. The issues of poverty, diseases and inequality still prevail in our societies today. Over the recent years, it has become too uncommon and frequent so as to prompt some measure or action. Two things can assist in that regard.

Charity is the first and undoubtedly a big one. Charity is definitely a very important practice in trying to establish a healthy society. It is through this act that people from different classes can interact with one another in a brotherly manner. It is through charity that those who are deprived can reach stability. They can gain temporary financial support to help them stand on their own two feet and slowly become active members of societies rather than a burden. Charity is also a very noble act that removes selfishness, greed and a superiority complex from the mind. It creates a sense of humbleness and therefore contributes to removing the negative aspects of society. It removes the labels of status and class that are now attached to everyone’s foreheads and moves us a step closer to equality in mankind.

Islam teaches us the connection between human, animal and environmental welfare.

There are many organizations/charities working in Pakistan, however, recently I met with the management of the Charity Doings Foundation which aims to create a better place for all life, be it humans, animals, or the environment. While talking with the management, I learned that CDF had been operational since 2015 and had carefully continuously transitioned to a more justice approach, which we now term Interspecies Justice. Originally focused on human welfare projects, CDF has shifted attention to the most vulnerable of our society, animals, and the environment. As is also mentioned in the teachings of the Prophet (SAW), Islam advocates for mercy for all life, for humans, animals, and the environment.

Islam teaches us the interconnection between human, animal, and environmental welfare and CDF passionately advocates for such a connection from a justice perspective as everyone deserves a life worth living.

They further briefed that CDF so far has installed 1500+ environmentally friendly water projects that provide clean drinking water to both humans and animals from a diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice perspective. What’s special about these projects is that we don’t tell the people to bring their animals as we want them to organically understand that all life is sacred. With due time, we have seen people bringing their beloved animals alongside their children at the project sites.

To highlight the importance of the environment, CDF has established Roshni projects and built houses across Pakistan that provide solar technology to light up homes. Most of our clean water projects are solar-powered, to minimize our carbon footprint. CDF also has planted over 80,000 plant saplings across Pakistan. We consistently evaluate our approach under the principles of Islam and lead initiatives that have a positive impact on all lives.

The most relevant example of our interspecies Justice ideology became visible during the unfortunate 2022 floods. At one point in August 2022, 1/3rd of Pakistan was under water, over 1700+ humans died, and over a million farm animals died alongside a $30 billion loss to the economy. Against such a brutal environment, CDF led rescue missions for both humans and animals.

During those times, CDF went into the flood zones and rescued both human and non-human victims of the disaster. For the humans, we set up 25+ medical camps to tackle period poverty, built 200+ houses with solar technology, set up various daily community kitchens, set up a disaster zone plant-based school for 100 indigenous children, provided malaria beds, and set up 100+ water projects.

We provided emergency veterinary aid for the animal victims and around 120,000 kilograms of food and rescued 8000 farmed animals. This year, we have set up the country’s 1st disaster zone farm animal shelter in Sindh and a large-scale free-of-cost medical lab in Hub, Baluchistan. Our theory of change is enshrined around respect, empathy, and interspecies justice. Scientific research suggests that to rising global rise in temperatures due to greenhouse gas emissions was a cause for the most devastating monsoon rains in Pakistan since the 1960s, which ultimately led to the apocalyptic floods.

Linking this to animals and the environment, our global Industrial Animal agriculture system is responsible for 1/3rd of the Global Greenhouse emissions. The Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the official scientific body for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, to which Pakistan is also a party claims that even if we eliminate our greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels, without eliminating the emissions from the industrial agriculture system, we will not reach the global 1.5-degree centigrade temperature goal under the United Nations Paris Agreement.

To further our impact, CDF has been registered as a tax-exempt non-profit organization in the US as well in addition to Pakistan. CDF is also on a mission to collaborate with other like-minded organizations in Pakistan and globally that embrace an interspecies justice ideology and aim to lead respectful development in underdeveloped nations in the global south.

CDF under the leadership of Ahmed Malik and Altamush Saeed and its wonderful operations team, has broken new ground every year and we continuously will keep striving for a better world for all life, be it humans, animals, or the environment.

The writer is a social and political activist based in Lahore. He can be reached at salmanali088@gmail.com, and tweets at Salmani_salu.