Daily Times

One of the key factors to ensure healthy living conditions for human being is the sustainability of environment and tackling challenges that pose a threat to the world environment. The goal of environmental sustainability is to conserve natural resources and to develop alternate sources of power while reducing pollution and harm to the environment. Environment sustainability can be defined as a state in which the demands placed on the environment can be met without reducing its capacity to allow all people to live well, now and in the future. Environmental sustainability is the context within which social and economic life happen. Also, social inequity directly affects environmental viability.

Experts argue that we are exceeding and eroding the earth’s carrying capacity, that there are limits to growth on a finite planet. Effects are interactive, complex, unpredictable and escalating, as we head for a global average temperature rise of more than 2 degrees centigrade over pre-industrial levels. The problem is aggravating more rapidly in developing countries. The main factors that are making a direct impact on the sustainability of environment include climate change due to industrial growth, unplanned urbanisation, deforestation, and pollution.

Amid growing evidence that climate change is having wide-ranging global impacts that will worsen in the years ahead, different countries are planning to tackle the challenge. A persistent change in weather patterns has made flash floods and lengthy summer a global issue. Innovative thinking and planning in advance are keys to deterring these climate-related miseries.

Another area of concern is the unplanned urbanisation particularly in developing countries. The concerned governments need to understand that urban planning is a science. Rapid urbanisation requires a complete set of scientific rules and a modern approach to tackle the challenges of increasing population and its needs in big cities. Instead of letting urban growth go unchecked in vast areas, there is a need to limit urban areas. If we have smaller cities, it would be easier to arrange civic amenities for citizens and lay other necessary infrastructure in the urban areas. The developing states need to follow the example of existing well planned urban cities in developed countries that are efficiently meeting the civic needs of their citizens without causing damage to the environment and overall character of those particular cities.

With the passage of time, the forested areas are shrinking rapidly across the world. The international criterion requires that 33 percent of a country’s total area should be covered with forests for sustainable environment whereas Pakistan has less than five percent area covered in forests, which is a cause for concern. Moreover, the depletion of trees is also affecting the temperature of different cities and causing serious health issues that might aggravate if not controlled through the safety of the environment. In order to preserve the environment and recover forest coverage, planting trees should receive due emphasis, and more and more trees need to be planted.

Last but not the lease is the grave issue of pollution. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has already cautioned the world against the health hazards of pollution. According to WHO reports, pollution is responsible for one in four deaths among all children under five. The leading causes of deaths are toxic air, unsafe water, and lack of sanitation. The reports found polluted environments cause the deaths of 1.7 million children every year, but that many of the deaths could be prevented by interventions already known to work, such as providing cleaner cooking fuels to prevent indoor air pollution.

Leading thinkers suggest that to stand any chance of achieving environmental sustainability, serious efforts need to be taken right now. Like Pakistan, other countries around the Equator are also at risk of experiencing dangerous weather patterns due to a persistent rise in mercury. Climate change is drastically and rapidly altering ecosystems, agriculture and weather fluctuations all over the world. The life cycles of most plants and animals are critically tied to seasonal changes in temperature, precipitation, and light. These changes are directly making an impact on human life in affected regions of the world. The better way is to take some pre-emptive steps to at least delay such affects. Unfortunately Pakistan can be bracketed as most oblivious country in the world to the effects of climate change. While other countries are adapting to climate change and abiding by climate conventions, Pakistan has largely neglected this pressing issue so far. We need to decrease our dependence on fossil fuels and find sustainable solutions like increasing the capacity and number of hydroelectric power plants, building more nuclear power plants and relying on renewable resources to solve our energy crisis. By increasing the forest cover and building water reservoir, government can play a role in the sustainability of the environment. One of the most pervasive forms of pollution in the country is the growing number of cars on the roads, most without catalytic converters. The best way to reduce motor vehicle caused pollution is by setting up safe and efficient public transport networks. Hopefully Pakistan will launch environmental initiatives and implement regulation for its sustainability.

Published in Daily Times, January 26^th 2018.