We don’t see any visible policy advocacy or awareness-raising effort or citizens’ engagement in Pakistan on the Earth Day by those who are responsible to do it either from the government or the nongovernment. The concerned departments in the federal capital and in the provinces found sleeping as usual though their mandate includes public engagement at least on the days we need to renew our pledges to take care of the environment around us. They get full benefits from their organisations but remain reluctant to practice their mandate in the best public interest.
The Earth Day is one of the very important globally recognised and celebrated environmental days. It is marked on 22 April every year to highlight the damage done by the industrial and other sources of pollution destroying the earth’s nature and natural resources.
On April 22, 1970, millions of people took to the streets to protest the negative impacts of 150 years of industrial development. In the U.S. and around the world, smog was becoming deadly and evidence was growing that pollution led to developmental delays in children. Biodiversity was in decline as a result of the heavy use of pesticides and other pollutants.
The global ecological awareness was growing, and the US Congress and President Nixon responded quickly. In July of the same year, they created the Environmental Protection Agency, and robust environmental laws such as the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act, among many.
Earth Day is now a global event each year, and we believe that more than 1 billion people in 192 countries now take part in what is the largest civic-focused day of action in the world.
It is a day of political action and civic participation. People march on the streets, sign petitions and meet with their elected officials, plant trees, clean-up their towns and roads. Corporations and governments use it to make pledges and announce sustainability measures. Faith leaders including Pope Francis, connect Earth Day with protecting God’s greatest creations, humans, biodiversity and the planet that we all live on.
It is done elsewhere, not in Pakistan. Our politicians, government officials and the environmental organisations sleep over the scope of their mandate even on the globally recognised and celebrated environmental days. A few dedicated individuals cannot do what a collective action could bring about. So, our responsible institutions need to act more vigorously to practice their mandate and to engage public at large. Public advocacy and awareness-raising and citizens engagement on ground would certainly make a big difference in protecting nature and natural resources, reducing the degradation of earth by changing consumption behaviour.
This year the Earth Day theme was ‘protect our species’. Nature’s gifts to our planet are the millions of species that we know and love, and many more that remain to be discovered. Unfortunately, human beings have irrevocably upset the balance of nature and, as a result, the world is facing the greatest rate of extinction since we lost the dinosaurs more than 60 million years ago. But unlike the fate of the dinosaurs, the rapid extinction of species in our world today is the result of human activity.
The local public institutions and departments are also easily influenced by the industry’s environment unfriendly practitioners. So, the environmental degradation continues without any check and monitoring
The unprecedented global destruction and rapid reduction of plant and wildlife populations are directly linked to causes driven by human activity: climate change, deforestation, habitat loss, trafficking and poaching, unsustainable agriculture, pollution and pesticides to name a few. The impacts are far reaching.
The earth resources are fast depleting in Pakistan too. Many species we have lost due to loss of green cover and deforestation, air and water pollution and no measures taken for the industrial and municipal waste management.
We have too much of legislation at the federal level and institutional arrangement. But the provinces not only lack appropriate legislation to combat the environmental menace, they are also short of funds and technical resources. More importantly the capacity deficiency in the provincial public institutions and departments is the major hurdle in dealing with the local environmental disruptions.
The local public institutions and departments are also easily influenced by the industry’s environment unfriendly practitioners. So, the environmental degradation continues without any check and monitoring. On the other hand, everyone waits for the huge funds pour down in their kitties. No one believes in the cooperation and pooling of the resources to initiative the stakeholders’ engagement. Rarely seen is the implementation of environmental laws, rules and regulations at the grassroots level.
It is now more than fifteen years that we the volunteers of the Development Communications Network (Devcom-Pakistan) have set a humble practice of collaboration of different partners to engage citizens especially the youth from colleges and universities to engage them on-ground activities such clean-up, plantation, art competition and their dialogue with the experts. This year on the Earth Day, the Devcom-Pakistan has launched the Earth Care Pledge.
The pledge states: I do take care of the environment around me and to put every effort to make the planet earth a better and greener place to live in by protecting the nature and natural resources around, reduce consumption of all sorts; not litter and will managing my domestic solid waste, not only save trees but also plant more saplings of trees, also promote sustainable eco-tourism, promise to conserve water and protect water reservoirs, lakes and natural streams from pollution and by managing my domestic sewage.
I strongly believe that every citizen shall take the aforementioned oath. In Islamabad, Devcom-Pakistan is all out to engage about a million students in the twin-cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi to take this oath and sign the written pledge to take care of the earth. This may lead to some significant contribution of the general public and the public and private officials to protect the environment around them.
We needed engagement of masses in real terms long back. At least, we need to act now if we aspire to delay the extinction of humanity’s most enduring legacy – the earth’s nature around us. For the awareness and consistent engagement of common citizens, Devcom-Pakistan has planned to launch the Street Galleries themed on environment and highlighting the impact of climate change. The both initiatives, the Earth Care Pledge and Street Galleries, can be launched anywhere with the collaboration of Devcom-Pakistan.
The writer is an Islamabad-based policy advocacy, strategic communication and outreach expert