The Chief Minister of Sindh has also released special funds for this purpose. No member of the PTI, including the Chawal Wazir, was seen on the streets during the rains, while more than four committees set up by the Prime Minister for Karachi in the last two years have done nothing so far for the city. Not visible Claiming to clear millions of tons of garbage from drains; Chawal Wazir delivered only 20,000 tons of garbage to the landfill site during the cleanup and the remaining millions of tons he spread in the streets and alleys of the city. A private channel is currently playing the role of PTI’s B team and it is misleading the people under an organized conspiracy against the Sindh government. These views were expressed by the two provincial ministers while addressing a press conference at the Sindh Assembly Auditorium on Wednesday.

On this occasion, a documentary was also presented to the media regarding the work of cleaning the drains started by the Local Government Department. On the occasion, Sindh Minister for Information and Local Government Syed Nasir Hussain Shah said that after the recent rains, water accumulated in the low lying areas of the city and it caused inconvenience to the people. We apologize to them but the way the media reported the rain. The situation in Karachi was not like that later.

He said that in the past, when it rained so much, the city’s roads were flooded for several days and even the flights and rail system were paralyzed, but this time it did not happen and the city’s main highways, including Drainage work was completed in 2 to 2.5 hours as soon as the rains stopped from most of areas. However, some areas including Orangi Town, Liaquatabad, Federal B Area, PECHS and other low lying areas were flooded and Drainage work has also been completed through dewatering pumps. “Yesterday, I visited different parts of the city with friends of the media and in Soldier Bazaar, where there was a problem due to overflow of the drain, there were large stones that fell on the pipes of the drain while cleaning the drain,” he said. They were removed. He said that there have been incidents in the past where some conspiratorial groups have been making such moves to gloss over their politics and criticize the PPP government in Sindh.

He said that Nazimabad, KDA Chowrangi, Nagan Chowrangi where water comes from the hills and due to the green line service in these areas, water has entered the surrounding settlements due to water coming from both sides. Steps are being taken to prevent this from happening again.

Newspaper: BR

The guidelines apply specially to all staff working outdoor including Reporters/ Correspondents, Cameramen, Technicians, Satellite Engineers, staff related to assignment and DSNG Operations Outdoor Assistants, Sales Personnel, any other staff specifically designated to perform official assignment outside office premises.

Goal of this guideline is to prevent our outdoor staff from getting infected from the external environment and also prevent external infection to contaminate our office and equipment.

Primarily it is the responsibility of the management of a television channel to provide all possible facilities and safety equipment/gear for the protection of the staff that is assigned outdoor jobs. The Director News should ensure that all such precautions are in place before a team is sent out on assignment. In case, adequate equipment/gear, as mentioned in the guidelines below, is not available, the assignment should be cancelled as safety of the team members, and rest of the staff working in the office, takes priority on everything.

Leaving office for outdoor assignment;

1. Wear mask before leaving office.
2. Wash or sanitize hands before leaving office.
3. All DSNG’s and assignment vehicles are sanitized after each assignment (by disinfectant spray on seats, steering, dashboard, door handle from both side etc.)

4. If you are traveling using your own vehicle you should sanitize after every use by using a spray of Dettol and water mixture. Using small spray bottle makes it more cost effective.

5. Before start of journey, ensure that you have sanitizers and gloves available in vehicle or withyou.

6. Try to travel to your destination with no or minimum physical contact with any other person or colleague.

Reaching assignment location;

7. Wear gloves before disembarking the vehicle.
8. Ensure you are wearing gloves and face mask properly before you touch any equipment or enter the assignment premises.

9. Enter assignment premises with outmost care and keep a safe distance from others and furniture and fixture of the premises.

Working at assignment location;

10. Use face masks and gloves all the time when you are working outdoor on any assignment.
11. Come in contact of persons, equipment and fixture at assignment location only if this is very important and unavoidable i.e., fixing collar mic, lifting purchased good etc.

12. Try to stay as minimum as possible at assignment, do not stay after completing assignment specially to socialize i.e., leave as soon as a video beeper ends and you pack up equipment.
13. Try not to eat anything on assignment location, specially served by others.

Leaving assignment location;

14. Dispose off gloves in Dustbin, don’t throw carelessly, before heading back.
15. Check all equipment is placed on appropriate locations. If you are given disinfectant please apply on equipment before storing in DSNG or assignment vehicle.

16. Try to maintain distance if possible with your colleague traveling with you. Arriving and entering office after assignment;

17. Before entering office dispose off your mask in nearest dustbin. Please avoid throwing it carelessly.
18. Immediately after entering office premises, wash your hands with soap for 20 Second if you are wearing a short sleeve wash hands up till elbow.
19. If washing is not possible please use sanitizers placed at different locations.
20. Store equipment and other items at respective locations and wash your hands again or sanitize.

Other important points;

1. Try to use your own vehicle for outdoor use and keep disinfecting the same by mixture of Dettol and water.
2. Keep giving feedback to administration and your departmental heads/supervisors in case of shortage of supplies like mask, soap, sanitizers etc.
3. Report if any of your colleague do not follow the above despite your reminders.
4. Washing hands and keeping safe distance are the key measures to avoid coronavirus.
5. All paper and plastic material should be handled while wearing gloves and masks as per the protocol of disinfection of Corona virus.

Safety protocol/measures for all journalists and media workers working within Office Premises:

Arriving at office;

1. Try to travel in your own personal conveyance with no or minimum physical contact with any other person.
2. Use face masks and gloves when you are travelling from your home to office.
3. Properly dispose off these before entering office premises in dustbin don’t throw them carelessly.

4. While entering into office premises you shall cooperate with the security and health scanning staff with respect to your health screening, which is utmost important for a SAFE work environment.

5. After entering office premises wash your hands with soap, if it’s not possible use sanitizer placed by Administration Department at different locations.

Working in office;

1. Try to wear masks within office premises as well; you can also contact Administration Department if you are facing difficulty in acquiring masks from open market.
2. If you are using a common/shared desktop system used by other team members as well, make sure that you are using disposable gloves to protect yourself and your colleagues.
3. Frequently wash your hands with water and soap for 20 second, in locations where water and soap is not available, you can use sanitizer.
4. Try to avoid face to face meetings as much as possible, conferencing through video link, using voice call or extension are more advisable these days.
5. Also do not forget to wash your hands with soap or sanitizer, after attending meetings or visiting the work station/office of your colleagues.
6. Try to use your own cup and glass for tea and water during office hours.
7. Please restrict yourself to your work station; and avoid making unnecessary visit to irrelevant floors and buildings.

Other important points;

1. In case if you identify or suspect any of your colleague or their family members suffering from COVID 19 symptoms, make sure that you bring the same into the notice of the HR Medical Facilitation Help Desk (MFD). Do not discuss the same with any other employee this promote gossip and misinformation which can result in chaos and confusion.
2. Employees assigned to work from office are responsible to avoid unnecessary mobility and follow following;
3. Avoid inviting guests at office and home.
4. Avoid visiting public places like parks, restaurants, shopping malls etc.
5. Avoid visiting relatives, family and friends who are suspected of Corona infection.
6. Observe health of your loved ones closely.
7. Regularly observe health condition of your domestic servants like maids, drivers etc. at home. In case of self-illness of staff or anyone from his / her immediate family and collogue, staff shall immediately inform the MFD.

It is the duty of all Director News to implement these protocols in their organizations.

Best regards and stay safe

Azhar Abbas President AEMEND

Last date for receiving applications:   Sunday January 5, 2020

Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) invites applications for the 7th batch of PPF Investigative Reporting Fellowships.

The fellowships facilitate Pakistani journalists to produce investigative report that meet the professional, ethical and legal standards. PPF will provide support to journalists, to professionally investigate and report on issues relating to human rights, transparency, environment, inequity, governance and corruption.

The fellowships will include capacity building workshops as well as editorial and technical support.   Selected participants will work under the supervision of a senior journalist who will act as fellowship editor. Each fellow will be expected to produce up to six stories during this fellowship program.

Journalists with a minimum experience of three years working for print, television, radio and online media can apply for the fellowships.

The criteria for journalists from Baluchistan, FATA, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir may be relaxed for otherwise qualified applicants. Female journalists are encouraged to apply.

The duration of the fellowship is three months and the amount for the fellowship is sixty thousand rupees.

Completed application forms, in either English or Urdu, containing the following must be received by Sunday January 5, 2020 to be considered for the award of the fellowships.

• Fellowship application form
• Professional resume/CV
• Stories proposal form
• Links or clippings of at least three articles that were published or aired in the last three years.

Applications should be sent to fellowships@pakistanpressfoundation.org

For forms, click the link below;

Application form:

http://pakistanpressfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/PPF-Investigative-Reporting-Fellowship-Application-Form-English.docx

Story proposal form;

http://pakistanpressfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/PPF-Investigative-Reporting-Fellowship-Story-Proposal-Form-English.docx

Translation

By 2100, average temperatures could rise 6.5 to 7.0 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels if carbon emissions continue unabated, separate models from two leading research centres in France showed.

That is up to two degrees higher than the equivalent scenario in the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change’s (IPCC) 2014 benchmark 5th Assessment Report.

The new calculations also suggest the Paris Agreement goals of capping global warming at “well below” two degrees, and 1.5C if possible, will be harder to reach, the scientists said.

“With our two models, we see that the scenario is known as SSP1 2.6 — which normally allows us to stay under 2C — doesn’t quite get us there,” Olivier Boucher, head of the Institute Pierre Simon Laplace Climate Modelling Centre in Paris said.

With barely one degree Celsius of warming so far, the world is already coping with increasingly deadly heatwaves, droughts, floods and tropical cyclones made more destructive by rising seas.

A new generation of 30-odd climate models known collectively as CMIP6 — including the two unveiled Tuesday — will underpin the IPCC’s next major report in 2021.

“CMIP6 clearly includes the latest modelling improvements,” even as important uncertainties remain, Joeri Rogelj, an associate professor at Imperial College London and an IPCC lead author said.

These include increased supercomputing power and sharper representations of weather systems, natural and man-made particles, and how clouds evolve in a warming world.

“We have better models now,” said Boucher. “They have better resolution, and they represent current climate trends more accurately.”

A core finding of the new models is that increased levels of CO2 in the atmosphere will warm Earth’s surface more easily than earlier calculations had suggested.

If confirmed, this higher “equilibrium climate sensitivity”, or ECS, means humanity’s carbon budget — our total emissions allowance — is likely to shrink.

The French models are among the first to be released, but others developed independently have come to the same unsettling conclusion, Boucher confirmed.

By 2100, average temperatures could rise 6.5 to 7.0 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels if carbon emissions continue unabated, separate models from two leading research centres in France showed. PHOTO: AFP
By 2100, average temperatures could rise 6.5 to 7.0 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels if carbon emissions continue unabated, separate models from two leading research centres in France showed. PHOTO: AFP

“The most respected ones — from the United States, and Britain’s Met Office — also show a higher ECS” than the previous generation of models, he said.

This is bad news for the fight against global warming, which continues to face strong political headwinds and institutional inertia despite a rapid crescendo of public awareness and concern.

“A higher ECS means a greater likelihood of reaching higher levels of global warming, even with deeper emissions cuts,” Boucher and two British scientists — Stephen Belcher from the UK Met Office and Rowan Sutton from the UK National Centre for Atmospheric Science — wrote in a blog earlier this year, tiptoeing around the implications of the new models.

“Higher warming would allow less time to adapt and mean a greater likelihood of passing climate ‘tipping points’ such as the thawing of permafrost, which would further accelerate warming.”

A third to 99 per cent of top-layer permafrost could melt by 2100 if carbon pollution is not abated, releasing billions of tonnes of greenhouse gases into the air, according to a draft IPCC special report on oceans and Earth’s frozen zones obtained by AFP.

“Unfortunately, our global failure to implement meaningful action on climate change over recent decades has put us in a situation where what we need to do to keep warming to safe levels is extremely simple,” said Rogelj.

‘Oceans turning from friend to foe’

“Global greenhouse gas emissions need to decline today rather than tomorrow, and global CO2 emissions should be brought to net zero.”

The 2014 basket of climate models show Earth warming on current trends an additional 3C by 2100, and at least 2C even if national carbon-cutting pledges are all met.

The two French climate models, including one from France’s National Centre for Meteorological Research (CNRM), were to be unveiled at a press conference in Paris.

Express Tribune

They also urged the government to place a ban on ozone-depleting gases.

Organised by the ministry of climate change and HVACR Society, the event attracted a large number of climate change researchers, scientists and university students.

The theme of this year’s World Ozone Day is ‘32 years and Healing’.

Vice Chancellor of NED University of Engineering and Technology Prof Sarosh Hashmat Lodi, the chief guest, talked about the role Pakistan could play to strengthen international efforts against global warming.

“Collaboration among all stakeholders is important. Besides, there is also a need to put a ban on the uses of gases which damage the ozone layer,” he said.

Highlighting efforts of the government, national programme manager at National Ozone Unit, ministry of climate change, Zia-ul-Islam said efforts had already been initiated to create awareness on climate change in collaboration with various stakeholders including the United Nations.

“At the first step, we are creating awareness on gases harming the ozone layer and providing training to people who are engaged in the production of these gases,” he informed the audience, adding that so far 300 people had been trained in this field.

Referring to a case, he pointed out that this training process had shown promising outcomes. In 2018, the Customs officers at the Karachi International Container Terminal were able to seize a massive shipment of R-22 gas weighing around 18,000kg. The gas was being imported from China.

The audience was informed that R-22, a colourless gas also known as HCFC-22, was a powerful ozone-depleting substance and commonly used as a refrigerant and propellant.

Dawn

The announcement to this effect was made by Sindh Local Government Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah as he talked to media persons at the Sindh Assembly on Monday. He said the new cleanliness campaign of the provincial government would be launched on September 21, under which garbage would be lifted significantly from the city in just one month.

The local government minister informed the media that efforts would be made to enhance the garbage disposal capacity of the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board (SSWMB), after which its capacity to lift garbage from the city would be increased from 5,000 tonnes to 16,000 tonnes on a daily basis.

He also appealed to the media to play a positive role in the upcoming cleanliness campaign in the city by highlighting the cleanliness work in order in order to enhance the positive image of the relevant municipal agencies in Karachi.

He said the Sindh chief minister would also hold a meeting regarding the new cleanliness campaign. Explaining his government’s plan for the new campaign, the local government minister said the Sindh government would establish makeshift garbage transfer stations at different locations of the city for a proper disposal of the municipal waste at the landfill sites.

He said the Karachi mayor, the commissioner, the deputy commissioners and the chairmen of District Municipal Corporations would work under a joint and coordinated strategy to ensure the success of the cleanliness campaign. The Sindh government wanted to catch up on the backlog of the municipal waste in the city, he remarked.

A few weeks earlier, the federal government initiated a cleanliness campaign in Karachi with the aim to clean its drains and transfer its municipal waste dumped on public places to the designated landfill sites.

The campaign, which was titled ‘Let’s Clean Karachi’, was announced by Federal Maritime Affairs Minister Ali Zaidi.

In a tweet, Zaidi said, “with the help of the citizens of this great city, we will clean up Karachi from trash in next two week. #LetsCleanKHI.” The move came after Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar wrote to him on July 30 regarding the sorry state of affairs in Karachi following monsoon rains.

In the letter, Akhtar said the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) had requested the Ministry of Maritime Affairs to help the corporation clean the storm water drains on an emergency basis. “It will be an understatement to say that ports owe to the city and ports should shoulder there responsibility under CSR,” the letter read.

Speaking on August 1, Akhtar said that Zaidi’s tweet came after he wrote to him. When asked if the corporation or his party, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), would support the campaign, he responded that if the federal ministry shared its plan with them, they would move ahead together.

Initially, the Sindh government welcomed Zaidi’s initiative. Addressing a news conference, then Sindh local government minister Saeed Ghani said it was good that the federal government had expressed its intention to do something for the people of Karachi. He assured the Centre that the Sindh government would extend every kind of help to the drive.

Ghani, however, criticised the MQM-P, saying that due to the failure of its local government representatives, Zaidi had to initiate a cleanliness drive in the city. “The KMC and DMCs have not been able to complete their sanitation work, as perhaps Ali Zaidi has come here to help them out,” he said.

He added that the federal minister had claimed that Karachi would be cleaned in 10 days and if it really happened, nothing would be better than that. However, later, the Sindh government censured Zaidi for the campaign and claimed that the federal government’s drive had turned the city dirtier than it was before.

Speaking on September 1, Ghani, who was then no longer the local government minister but had got the portfolio of the provincial information ministry instead, accused Zaidi of worsening the situation of garbage in the city.

He blamed the federal maritime affairs minister for the out-of-control garbage situation in Karachi after the heavy rainfall. He said mosquitos and flies had become a curse for the people of Karachi but the Sindh government was helpless in this regard as teams of the cleanliness drive initiated by Zaidi had been fishing garbage out of storm water drains and dumping it on grounds and streets.

Ghani maintained that whenever he raised objection to the mode of work of the federal government-backed ‘Let’s Clean Karachi’ campaign, Zaidi became annoyed and held him responsible for the issue of garbage in Karachi.

The News

Meanwhile, ‘na maloom afraad’ (unidentified persons) have made life a living hell for the residents of Karachi by choking the city’s sewerage system with sand-filled gunny sacks.

Last week, gutters in various parts of the city suddenly overflowed to cause disruptions and roadblocks, particularly for the peaceful Muharram procession. To look into the cause of the problem, the provincial government, with the help of civic authorities, started a cleanliness drive and found hundreds of sacks deliberately placed inside sewerage lines to block sewers.

According to officials, the sacks – filled with concrete, sand and other waste material – have been removed from many areas of the city, including Saddar, Baba-e-Urdu Road, Ranchore Line, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Federal B Area and PECHS society, among others.

“Throughout the cleanliness drive, we found bags placed inside manholes every single day,” Sindh Information Minister Saeed Ghani told The Express Tribune. “It is extremely regrettable that a few miscreants have created problems for the residents of Karachi, especially the mourners of the Muharram procession, by blocking the sewerage lines. The practice is intolerable.”

To tackle the situation, the Sindh government has decided to track the ‘na maloom afraad’ and has instructed the police to keep an eye on their respective areas.

“If caught, immediate action will be taken against the miscreants as this is a conspiracy to defame our government,” Ghani said.

Likewise, while speaking to the media, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah said that the suspects involved in choking manholes with gunny sacks must be arrested immediately. He added that the entire city does not fall under the domain of Sindh government or KMC, as some areas are under the control of the cantonment boards.

“We are being held responsible for piled-up solid waste even in areas which are not under our control,” he said.

Shifting blame

On the other hand, Mayor Wasim Akhtar denied that there was any conspiracy behind the deliberate choking of gutters in the city and blamed the Sindh government and the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board for allowing heaps of garbage to pile up in different parts of the city.

“It is the negligence of the government which has led to the situation. We, at the KMC, are helpless when it comes to power and funds,” said Akhtar.

“We, with the help of the federal government, are trying to resolve this issue. In this connection, a committee has also been formed and the prime minister has already announced a package for the city,” he added.

Ghani, however, held the PTI-led government and its coalition partner, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan, responsible for ruining Karachi by using the issue of garbage for political gains.

“In the last few days, various claims have been made by the [PTI] government to resolve Karachi’s problems and yet another committee had been formed,” he said, pointing out that the prime minister had earlier announced Rs200 billion for Karachi, but only Rs12 billion has been allocated in the budget presented by the federal government.

Ghani added that the citizens of Karachi have been suffering because of the Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Ali Zaidi’s ‘Clean Karachi Campaign’, which, according to Ghani, has instigated “gutter politics” in the city.

“Instead of forming a new committee, the PM should check the outcome of the Clean Karachi Campaign, which was supposed to clean the city in merely two weeks,” he complained.

Karachi Committee

The Federal Law Minister Dr Farogh Naseem, who heads the newly-formed committee to resolve the issues of Karachi, said that political parties and different stakeholders should join hands, instead of criticising each other and fighting on civic issues of Karachi.

“In the last 11 years, no one has focused on the issues of Karachi. But now, the prime minister has formed a committee to resolve garbage and other issues,” Naseem told journalists after chairing a meeting.

Sharing details of the committee, which comprises 12 members both from PTI and MQM-P, he said that unlike the past, the committee’s efforts will not be based on an ad hoc basis.

“We are working on an emergency basis to permanently resolve the issues,” he concluded.

Express tribune

According to the proposal, the force, comprising 200 personnel will be trained by the Sindh Police Department and would be responsible for ensuring that environmental protection laws in Sindh are followed in letter and spirit.

The proposed police force would have the authority to take penal action against individuals as well as private and public agencies causing environmental pollution. The environmental police will also be authorised to register FIRs, raid and arrest violators of rules under the Environmental Protection Act. Police stations of the environmental police will be established in all divisions of the province. A grade-19 officer will be deputed as the provincial head of the environmental police force, while each division will be supervised by a DSP. Besides, each police station will have one inspector and around 15 police officials. A police mobile will also be provided to each police station.

According to Sepa officials, they have suggested the establishment of two police stations in Karachi. Sepa’s secretary, Khan Muhammad Mahar told The Express Tribune that the environmental police force is being formed in light of the recommendations made by the Judicial Commission on Water and Sanitation. The documentation has been completed in this regard and the appointment process will be started after approval from the CM and the cabinet.

Express Tribune

Talking to, MoCC Senior Joint Secretary Hammad Shamimi said the decision had been made after much hue and cry created against the ban imposed on the plastic bags. He said it was not the government’s mandate to produce alternates rather prescribes the substitute for prohibited item in the legislation.

It was the producers who would have to manage the stock themselves, he added. He said, “We have made cotton, jute and other fabric bags to be distributed among the general on these kiosks to be set up at various shopping centres. The ban on plastic bags has given a decent employment opportunity for poor widows and underprivileged communities of the society.”

“The corporate sector had taken this initiative positively and had subsidized the production of cotton bags which had helped such masses to produce cotton bags at home to earn a reasonable livelihood,” he added.

The senior joint secretary told this agency that in a meeting held at MoCC it was decided to incorporate transgender community inside the plastic bags ban awareness and implementation campaign.

However, a group of around eight social organizations of the federal capital took the responsibility to manage one lac cotton bags from Faisalabad at a very short notice. Those cotton bags were later distributed among the transgender to sale them out in the market so that a respectable source of income could be managed for them as they were being persecuted at traffic signals and other public areas for money, he added.

Shamimi said, “We will also let the transgender to provide alternate at the kiosks which will make the initiative all-inclusive and public-friendly programme.” He informed that the federal capital was divided into four zones and the implementation team comprised of four assistant commissioners, 1 Environmental Protection Agency representative, media persons, 1 MoCC representative, police team and 1 Islamabad Municipal Corporation official.

Most of the complaints have been received regarding sector E-11 being out of the Capital Development Authority jurisdiction. “We visited each shop in the sector and only noticed plastic bags at a milk shop where all other outlets are complying with the ban imposed on plastic bags,” he added.

The shopkeepers were happier about the ban imposed as an average retailer had to buy Rs10,000 to Rs15,000 worth plastic bags which he used to give away to the consumers for free.

Now, they were buying a cotton bag from the wholesalers for Rs25 and then selling it to consumers for Rs30 hence, earning an extra profit in their sales, he said. Lal Khan, a shopkeeper told this agency that he had been running his shop for the last forty years and it was a practice around 35 years back when he used to give pulses, spices and other household items in paper bags.

Paper bags were hygienic and environment friendly where the plastic bags were totally detrimental to human health and it was a positive initiative of the government to free the society from its menace, he added.

The News

With swarms of mosquitos and flies growing all over the city in the aftermath the monsoon rains, the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation’s (KMC) fumigation drive has been unable in containing the spread of the disease-carrying insects.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, KMC officials said their fumigation efforts were severely hampered by a lack of both funds and insecticide chemicals.

Volunteers of a local NGO, Feed The Poors, fumigate areas of Shadman Town, Karachi on Aug 30, 2019 to suppress the recent infestation of flies. Over the past few weeks Karachi has developed a heavy infestation of flies and mosquitoes following heavy rains and flooding, mixed with lingering garbage in the streets. Fumigation is only a temporary solution and this infestation will continue to persist unless the city effectively manages its waste.

Meanwhile, accumulated rainwater, garbage heaps, sewage spills and uncollected offal from Eidul Azha sacrifices have turned many parts of the city into breeding grounds from mosquitos and flies.

According to officials, an insecticide spraying campaign carried out last month did temporarily contain the growth of the flying insects. But lack of consistency in the fumigation drive and another rainy spell undid the authorities’ efforts.

A major reason that KMC could not carry out the spraying campaign consistently was a dispute between the KMC authorities and the Sindh government that led to an inadequate supply of insecticide used. While KMC authorities carry out the actual spraying, the provincial health department is responsible for providing the insecticide.

KMC officials estimate they need to spray at least 4,800 litres of insecticide over the remainder of the year given Karachi’s current situation. During last month’s fumigation drive, however, KMC could only spray 550 litres, they added.

“The Sindh health department had not provided us Deltamethrin, the insecticide we use, for roughly two years,” said KMC Fumigation Director Kashif Mirza. “Only due to media pressure, they provided us 300 litres just a day before Eidul Azha. We received another 100 litres from an NGO and were able to procure 150 litres more from other sources, but that was it,” he told The Express Tribune.

According to Mirza, the limited campaign was carried out in stages across the city till the end of August but was ultimately futile.

“We need to spray at least 1,200 litres every month given Karachi’s current situation. The spraying drive should be carried out for at least seven days a month,” he said. “But because we were unable to do so, mosquitos and flies have started to breed again and the recent rains have provided them even better conditions to do so.”5

Mirza said KMC has sent repeated reminders to the Sindh health department for the provision of insecticide, but to no avail.

Meanwhile, experts warn that the growing spread of mosquitos, in particular, has placed Karachi residents at grave risk to viral diseases such as malaria, dengue, and chikungunya. Already more than 1,400 people have been affected by dengue this year so far. Six of them have died of the disease in Sindh. Most recently, over 200 Chinese nationals working on the nuclear plant near Hawke’s Bay contracted the virus.\

Express Tribune

A visit to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital (ASH) on Wednesday showed that there were three garbage dumps, one of them located within the boundary wall of the hospital’s trauma centre, where all kinds of medical wastes were being thrown away.

Two garbage dumps, located a few yards from the hospital, were being used by nearby laboratories to discard their refuse. Information gathered from the ASH revealed that the staff was using hospital premises for dumping medical waste for a long time.

No administrative official of the hospital was immediately available for comments.

“Now, who would impose Section 144 here and remove this hazardous waste endangering public health? Do we need a celebrity to force the government to do its job,” said Dr Qaiser Sajjad of the Pakistan Medical Association.

He raised this demand on Thursday as he along with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf lawmakers led by MNA Aftab Siddiqui visited the landfill site of Jam Chakro to check the performance of the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board (SSWMB) in proper disposal of the waste Karachi generates.

The adviser said that without these federal land-owning agencies doing their job to properly dispose of their municipal waste at the landfill sites, the campaign to clean Karachi would remain incomplete as a massive volume of garbage would be seen piled up in the city without being attended.

He said the waste disposal mechanisms of the federal entities in Karachi should work under the composite system of the SSWMB. He said that apart from the federal agencies in Karachi, districts of Korangi and Central did not work under the SSWMB and they had to use their own mechanisms to dispose of garbage in their jurisdictions at the landfill sites.

Wahad said the SSWMB had been transporting over 12,000 tons of garbage daily to the landfill sites. The visit to the landfill site revealed that the previous day 252 dump trucks had brought garbage to the site. Of these 252 dumpers, 221 belonged to the SSWMB and only 31 belonged to different federal entities in the city. Nine trucks of Bahria Town also reached the landfill site.

The federal land-owning agencies whose trucks reached the landfill site included the Cantonment Board Clifton, Cantonment Board Faisal, Cantonment Board Malir and Karachi Port Trust. The record showed that no garbage was brought from the territories that were under the control of federal agencies like the Pakistan Railways, Port Qasim Authority and Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority.

The adviser said the 252 dump tracks contained around 9,500 tons of garbage which was offloaded at the landfill site. He said Karachi was still facing the problem of unattended garbage having a volume of 1,600,000 tons and the cleanliness drive kicked off by Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Ali Zaidi should not have ended merely after removing 12,000 tons of waste from city.

He added that a proper boundary wall would be constructed at the landfill site so that garbage being dumped there did not end up in the adjoining areas.

He conceded that the problem of an illegal human settlement did exist at the Jam Chakro landfill site, but if in case the government took any action against I, an issue would emerge in the media.

He said the chief minister said had announced that after Muharram-ul-Haram, garbage would be collected from the city on the indiscriminate basis under a composite strategy. “People belonging to the Tehreek-e-Insaf should avoid doing politics over the issue of garbage as there is no doubt waste is being collected from Karachi. We have to work together to get this job done. Whatever is the responsibility of the Sindh government, it is being performed in a better way.”

The News

These views were expressed by the COPHC Chairman Zhang Baozhong in a meeting with Adviser to Prime Minister on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam, a press release said. A delegation of COPHC visited the climate change ministry and discussed important issues in this regard.

Talking to the delegation, the adviser said that the government wanted Gwadar to be fully established as a clean and green city so that it could serve as a benchmark for other cities in Pakistan and be an example globally.

“The federal government and the ministry will cooperate with relevant departments in this regard,” he added.

The COPHC chairman said that the researches done by various scientific research institutions, including the Chinese Academy of Sciences and others, had been taken into consideration before making the decision.

“The selection of plant species for plantation has been made while giving due consideration to the climate of Gwadar city, soil patterns, availability of water and botanical diversity,” the COPHC chairman said.

“A nursery had also been set up for the production of one million plants, which is capable of producing 300,000 plants per month. COPHC has already prepared 19,000 plants for the nursery including paper mulberry, moringa, castor oil and other species in the nursery.”

To manage the massive plantation target, he said, a committee had been constituted comprising representatives of Gwadar Development Authority, Balochistan Forest Department, Municipal Committee Gwadar and COPHC.

He added that the cost of planting one sapling in Gwadar was more than Rs20,000 keeping in view the severe weather conditions. “Moreover, the survival rate of the plant is less than 50 percent which is a major challenge for making the plantation drive a success.”

Express Tribune

This was said on Wednesday by Barrister Murtaza Wahab, the spokesperson for the Sindh government and adviser to the chief minister on law, environment and coastal development. He said the cleanliness drive would be supervised by the CM and the government will eventually make Karachi ‘Uroos-ul-Bilal [the bride of the cities]’.

Wahab explained that after Muharramul Haram, the government would start a comprehensive and scientific planning for the cleanliness drive. Criticising Federal Maritime Affairs Minister Ali Zaidi for his cleanliness drive in Karachi, the Sindh government spokesperson said the federal minister asked people to donate money for his drive but failed to get any funds for it from the federal government, of which he is a part.

Wahab asked the federal government to fulfil the promises it had made to the people of Karachi. He said corruption had been eliminated from the fisheries and now the European Union had allowed fish exports from Pakistan. He added that fishermen would be provided new equipment in order to help boost their trade.

Wahab was told on the occasion that after the installation of a floating jetty, the fishermen would have an easier time handling the goods. Chairman of the Fishermen Cooperative Society Abdul Bar informed him that Rs200 million was given to the Karachi Port Trust by the fisheries department for repair and maintenance and the federal government did not extend any help for it.

The Sindh government spokesperson said the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) believed in providing jobs to the people and it was being punished for it.

Addressing a news conference on Wednesday, Sindh Information Minister Saeed Ghani said some other elements besides those affiliated with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) were also involved in choking the sewers of the city by throwing rocks and gunny bags into them.

He said the District Municipal Corporation Central chairman had recently confirmed that rocks and gunny bags were being deliberately inserted in the sewage lines in order to choke them up.

He added that since the DMC Central chairman had complained about it, it showed that the mischievous act was being done by someone else as well, besides the MQM. Ghani maintained that the MQM was deliberately trying to disrupt the sewerage system of Karachi in the aftermath of the monsoon rains. He claimed that he had evidence to prove his allegation.

“But what has surprised me more this time is that the chairman of District Central, who belongs to the MQM, also confirms my assertion that gunny bags and rocks are being thrown into the sewerage lines. This shows that this thing is being done by someone else also,” he said. To a question, the information minister replied that not a single member of the Sindh Assembly belonging to the ruling PPP was going to shift their loyalties and such rumours were being spread just to appease the anti-PPP elements.

When asked who should become the acting governor of the province as Sindh Governor Imran Ismail had left Karachi for a foreign visit, Ghani replied that as per the Constitution, the speaker of the provincial assembly automatically became the acting governor in such situations.

It is pertinent to mention here that when the governor had recently gone to Saudi Arabia for Hajj, the federal government had made an attempt to appoint Sindh Assembly

Deputy Speaker Rehana Leghari as the acting governor because the incumbent speaker, Agha Siraj Durrani, is under arrest in connection with a corruption case. The deputy speaker, however, refused to be the acting governor, stating that she could not assume the office of the acting governor with the speaker available in the province.

Ghani also censured the federal government for what he described as the cruel act of denying medical facilities to the seriously ailing incarcerated leaders of the PPP, Asif Ali Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur.

The federal government was a like ‘Nazi regime’, he said, adding that the Centre had no regards for the provisions of the Constitution, law of the land, and directives of the judiciary. He remarked that the present regime was only serious about victimising its political opponents.

He said the two imprisoned leaders of the PPP were being denied hospitalisation despite their serious health status and they had also been deprived of facilities like air conditioner and refrigerator in the jail on their personal expense, despite directives of the judiciary to this effect.

Ghani said the use of such tactics would not deter the PPP from continuing its clear-cut stance in favour of the freedom of media, independence of media, and welfare of the poor masses of the country.

He said the Pakistan Peoples Party had to lose its leaders, including Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto, for its cause but it never bowed before such draconian and undemocratic use of authority.

Information minister Saeed Ghani said that five days had passed since a medical board of the National Accountability Bureau had conducted certain clinical tests of Zardari but their reports were not being given to any of his family member or Pakistan Peoples Party leader.

The News

When students from different educational institutions reached the beach during the day and tried to collect the hazardous waste, they were warned by medical experts and media persons against cleaning the resort without a proper safety gear.

Hundreds of syringes and other hospital waste were visible on the beach along the Seaview area even on Wednesday. The waste could not be removed by the authorities while some families and people were seen roaming the beach barefoot, and they were advised by social activists and media persons to either wear shoes before coming to the beach or keep away as the place was strewn with hazardous hospital waste.

The issue was brought to the notice of common people and the authorities by Shaniera Akram, wife of former cricket star Wasim Akram, who posted videos and pictures of the syringes and other hospital waste littering the beach on Tuesday morning, compelling Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and the environment adviser to take notice of the situation.

The Cantonment Board Clifton and Defence Housing Authority also carried out a beach-cleaning exercise on the same day, but the situation remained that same. When students from different schools and colleges were brought to the beach by some NGOs for cleaning the place, they found more syringes and hospital waste there, from a shopping mall to the other stretch of the beach, while picnickers were seen visiting the beach without knowing about the presence of open needles and syringes in the sand.

“Today, we were asked to carry out a beach- cleaning exercise and provided plastic gloves, but when we reached Clifton, we found more syringes and tubes. When we tried to pick them up, we were asked by some people, including media persons, not to do that as it could be dangerous for us too,” Ayaz Ahmed, a student of 9th class, said while talking to journalists.

Visitors were astonished to learn that there was Section 144 imposed to prevent people from visiting the beach while many also expressed ignorance of the presence of open needles and used syringes on the beach, saying no warning signs or people were present there to guide them in this regard.

Meanwhile, Shaniera Akram continued her tweets about the hospital waste littering the beach and said: “CBC should not be handling this clean up alone. There is dangerous medical waste that is coming in from the city and there needs to be a thorough investigation in to how this medical waste is ending up on our beach.”

“Now is the time to act, come together & use what has happened as a wake up call.80% clean is not good enough for me & certainly not good enough for the people of this city. This problem can’t just go away from cleaning the beach we need to go straight to the source of the problem,” she said in another tweet.

Shaniera also tweeted that provincial environment adviser Murtaza should call her directly “if he really thinks my tweet was negative and there was only a handful of syringes. This is not a time we should be shifting blame, this is a time we need to all come together to do what is right for our city and it’s people”.

On the other hand, dozens of carcasses of dead buffaloes, cows and goats were found lying on roads in Bhains Colony and the unbearable stink emitting from them had created another environmental hazard for the people of the area.

Video clips and pictures of dead animals were posted on social media platforms, with showed that these animals had died during the recent rains and the resulting unhealthy conditions, and the animals were thrown in open places and along roads, instead of properly disposing them of.

An official of the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency said they had learnt about the presence of carcasses of dead animals in the cattle colony, and had requested the district administration of Malir to dispose them of properly.

The News

The highly hazardous refuse is either sold by healthcare facilities, unsafely dumped within the neighbourhoods or taken to the decades-old government incinerators lacking independent monitoring, medical experts told Dawn on Tuesday.

In addition, they said, the government was yet to install incinerators at eight hospitals in the province — a project which the government initiated last year on the directives of the Supreme Court-mandated water commission.

The experts were sharing their views against the backdrop of a debate generated on the media following Shaniera Akram’s posts on Twitter in which she shared her observations, pictures and a video showing parts of the Clifton beach littered with clinical waste.

“There is kilometers of medical waste, including open syringes, vials of blood, broken glass medical containers, that has come in from the ocean spread out over kilometers across the beach.

“Our beach is a bio-hazard zone and needs to be shut down immediately. I am so sorry to the people including myself who use and love our beach but this is beyond safe,” she said.

Shaniera Akram posts a video on social media saying Clifton beach is a bio-hazard zone and needs to be shut down immediately

Reacting to this alarm, the affected area reportedly was cordoned off and the Clifton Cantonment Board collected the waste.

Experts, however, criticised government’s ad hoc approach towards what they described as ‘a very old serious issue’.

“We appreciate what Ms Akram did and would request all concerned citizens to do the same, if that’s how the government would work,” said Dr Qaiser Sajjad of the Pakistan Medical Association.

He added that the association had been raising this problem for ages but it could never attract official attention.

“We want to know which department is responsible for collecting medical waste from hundreds and thousands of clinics, maternity homes, hospitals and labs in the city.

“What we see on the ground is horrifying; clinical waste being dumped in lanes and streets as well as educational institutions,” he said.

He warned that “citizens are in the midst of a health disaster, urging the government to wake up and put systems in place”.

Waste from clogged drains?

Answering a question as to how medical waste might have ended up on the beach, Dr Nuzhat Khan, currently heading the National Institute of Oceanography, said that it probably came from clogged drains carrying waste from the city.

“I think it all flushed onto the beach as we have been experiencing heavy spells of rain. There are three to four drains which directly discharge waste on the Clifton beach,” she said, adding that pollution seriously affected the whole coast from Korangi fish harbour to Port Qasim.

She also referred to a 2017 incident in which massive flushing of sewage on the beach was erroneously reported as an ‘oil slick’ by the media.

Dr Altaf Ahmed, representing the Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Society of Pakistan, regretted that while Punjab had shown progress on safe disposal of medical waste, Sindh lagged far behind.

“We have seen hospitals selling their medical waste to garbage collectors. Some waste is taken to the government incinerators in Gutter Baghicha but nobody knows about its efficiency and operation as it’s a restricted area,” he said, adding that a few government hospitals had incinerators (an old technology) but that too were either found out of order or run half of their capacity.

The government, he pointed out, should see whether healthcare facilities had a system to manage and dispose of waste at the time of their establishment and then give them licence for operation.

Categorised as ‘highly infectious waste’, the clinical refuse must be segregated at source.

“It’s so easy to do. But, when it gets mixed with domestic waste, it turns the whole (the large quantity of non-infectious domestic) waste into infectious waste,” he said.

‘Antibiotic resistant germs in food’

It is important to recall that concerns over poor medical waste disposal practices have frequently been highlighted by experts.

A Karachi University study carried out on the food being sold in and outside 10 public sector hospitals of the city showed that it was unfit for human consumption and that the germs contaminating it had resistance against a number of commonly used antibiotics.

The samples were picked up from the Civil Hospital Karachi, Landhi Medical Complex, Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, Sindh Government Hospital, Liaquatabad, Qatar Hospital, Sindh Government Hospital (UP Mor), Lyari General Hospital, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Dow University of Health Sciences (Ojha campus), and Sindh Social Security Hospital.

The study identified dumping of waste (especially medical waste) in the open, lack of infection control measures at healthcare settings, mixing of sewerage lines with water mains, and poor hygiene practices of food handlers as major contributors to the evolution of these germs and their spread.

Dawn

Other links:

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Express Tribune

The News

Addressing a news conference on Tuesday, LG Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah expressed his resolve that efforts of all the relevant stakeholders and agencies will be combined to clear municipal garbage in the city.

Shah said the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC), the district municipal corporations (DMCs) and the cantonment boards will be taken on board by the provincial government in implementing its composite, concrete and well-coordinated strategy to clear municipal waste in the city.

Replying to a question, he expressed gratitude to Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Ali Zaidi for conducting a clean-up campaign in Karachi, saying that Zaidi’s intentions were good and he had fulfilled his obligations.

The provincial minister said that an audit will be conducted of the funds available to the KMC, the DMCs and the union committees. “Or rather, an audit of all the government-run institutions, including the LG department, should take place to determine where the public funds are being spent.”

He said that the water-starved areas of the city will be provided with the essential commodity for household use through the water tanker service, adding that special instructions have been issued in this regard.

Shah disclosed on the occasion that despite being a combined project of both the federal and Sindh administrations, the K-IV Greater Karachi Bulk Water Supply Scheme alone cannot fulfil the water requirements of the city.

He said that a composite strategy is being implemented for the purpose, as the options of treating wastewater (to use it for industrial and horticultural purposes) and desalinating seawater will be implemented to meet the water demand of Karachi.

“Black sheep do exist in our [LG] department like other departments and they have been trying to create problems intentionally, but we know how to deal with such elements.” To another query, he said the provincial government has taken notice of the

roads of the city falling into disrepair due to the substandard quality of their construction.

KMC begins drainage

Following the orders of Mayor Wasim Akhtar, the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) has started filling potholes and repairing roads throughout the city, states a press release of the municipal body.

The KMC statement said drainage is also being carried out in different parts of the city, adding that the municipal staff worked at Sharea Faisal, Korangi 12000 Road and University Road and in front of the Urdu University to drain those areas.

In Union Committee No. 28 a sewerage line was replaced on an emergency basis, while the mayor directed the officials concerned to work on sewerage issues in the areas where the locals are facing acute problems, saying that such efforts should be made on a priority basis.

The press release stated that the KMC is repairing sewerage lines from its own resources, as most of the roads of the city are left with potholes after the recent rains that have also been affecting the flow of traffic.

The News

“We have lands available at our schemes in almost every district of Sindh where we have planned to invite interested individuals and organisations to create green spaces there,” Public Health Engineering Secretary Roshan Ali Shaikh told Dawn.

He said there were thousands of such spaces available with the department that could offer the public to have green places in their areas, which were already very scarce in the province.

“This scheme could help our people to have gardens in their midst as well as improve our overall environment,” he said.

He added the organisations included non-governmental and village development organisations, philanthropists, and local and multinational companies. “We intend to convert the bigger sites into beautifully planned gardens or picnic spots for the communities with education and awareness facilities on environment, plantation and water conservation.”

Public health engineering dept will give pieces of land in 25 districts for three years without any charges

Project Director Raja Tariq Chandio said the department had more than 5,000 such sites where such green spaces could be developed.

He said the water supply schemes of the department, which included the reverse-osmosis (RO) plants, ultra-filtration (UF) plants and drainage installations, etc, were being run by them and they had ample spaces offering for developing green spaces.

“Thousands of such spaces are available with us ranging from 200 yards to as large as up to 100 acres,” said Mr Chandio.

He said individuals with reputation and history of working in environmental activities and organisations showing the same desire to make Sindh green would be handed those spaces for planting of trees and curating soothing gardens.

“These organisations and individuals will do all this without capitalising on it commercially with the precondition that they would have no ownership of the pieces of land given to them for greening areas,” he added.

Officials said the department had made it clear that those spaces would be handed to the interested parties initially for three years with no permission for using them for commercial purposes i.e. fixing entry fees for general public or allowing any companies to erect their advertisement hoardings, etc, in and around it.

“These areas will remain public places where entertainment-starved people could arrive with their families and enjoy with the nature free of charges,” said Mr Shaikh.

Another official said influential individuals would not be encouraged to get those places. Instead, “we will first check the credentials of those applying and could only consider them if they have worked in this field before”.

Besides, the places would be handed over for three years and the department could get them back as per conditions in the memoranda of understanding and would manage it either by itself or hand it to other parties.

Officials said apart from the land, the department would provide a watchman and water supply to the interested parties. However, those individuals or organisations would have to invest in designing those places and provision of seeds and plants by their own means.

And, they added, the department would, by no means, reimburse anything to the lessee once the time of contract lapsed or any of the two parties cancelled the agreement.

Officials said the PHE department had such pieces of land in 25 out of 29 districts of Sindh.

In Karachi, they added, the department had schemes in the rural fringes of the city in its West and Malir districts where those green spaces would be developed.

Besides, they said, the PHE department had schemes in the rest of 23 districts of Sindh.

They added that the forest department had also been requested to provide technical assistance to the PHE department to make the scheme success.

Dawn

The country’s deforestation rate has been estimated between 0.2 and 0.5 per cent per annum — the highest in the world — accounting for four to six per cent decline in its wood biomass per annum, the LHC verdict deplored.

Authored by Justice Jawad Hasan, the judgement, while citing a research report, observed that the natural forest cover had reduced from 3.59 million hectares to 3.32m hectares at an average rate of 27,000 hectares annually.

Citing the 2010 research report by the National Environment Information System (NEIMS), the judgement feared that the natural resources were decreasing at such an alarming speed that all the forest area would be consumed within the next five years.

Orders Punjab govt, DHA and various development authorities to make comprehensive policy to increase forest cover

NEIMS is a project of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) detailing the environment, biodiversity and ecological zones in Pakistan from forest to mountains and threatened flora and fauna and species of animal. The report highlighted that only 4.72m hectares or 3.36 per cent of its land mass was covered with forests, as there had been a declining forestation trend since 2000.

The LHC verdict recalled that the value of intangible benefits of forestation was eight times greater than the tangible value of products and services of forestry sector. Many intangible benefits were derived from forest, including oxygen production, watershed value, scenic benefits, ecosystem synergism and a variety of other values essential for human health and quality of life.

The forests also provide a number of crucial ecosystem services like their role in sequestering carbon from the atmosphere, protecting upstream watersheds, conserving biodiversity and gene-pools for future generations and in providing landscape.

Forests are both a source of carbon dioxide when they are destroyed or degraded, and a sink when conserved, managed or planted sustainably, the report said, explaining that 60 to 90 of all terrestrial species were found in forests having widespread economic and medicinal uses still unknown to mankind.

Quoting the report, the judgement said the forest vegetation and soils held 40 per cent of carbon stored in terrestrial ecosystems.

As the population grew, the demand for clean drinking water became more acute, the court observed, adding that such need for water was in addition to the need for agriculture, sanitation purpose, cooking and other uses.

Until two decades back, no one in Pakistan had ever thought of purchasing water, but at present people had to purchase it because of depletion of forest in watersheds, the verdict said.

According to the judgement, forest and plant cover are necessary to slow runoff and filter rainwater. When trees are in place, the flow of rainwater from downhill to the nearest stream slows down. Once slowed, rainwater seeped down to refill underground storage tanks or aquifers. In addition, water may be absorbed by the roots of trees so that it could cycle back for reuse as rainwater. Forests prevent non-saline drinking-quality water from running off too quickly to mix with the salt water of oceans. Once salty, water takes much longer to re-enter the fresh water portion of the hydrological cycle, where it is most useful to humans.

The roots of trees hold soil in place and the fertile soil that is needed to grow crops would otherwise be washed away in rainstorms, decreasing the amount of soil available for agriculture. Rich soil transfers nutrients to food which contributes to human health.

Forests provide multiple benefits to environment, people and animals like they cool air temperature by releasing water vapours into the air while at day time trees generate oxygen and store carbon dioxide that helps to clean air.

Moreover, forests attract wild life and offer food and protection to them. They reduce light reflection, offer a sound barrier and help guide wind direction and speed. Thus forests help in controlling the level of floods and soil erosion, the court observed in its recent judgement.

The court directed the authorities, including the DHA, development authorities and other relevant institutions to make and adopt comprehensive policies with respect to plantation of trees in urban areas with experience of Urban Plantation Policy and make their own policy under respective laws and immediately start planting of trees with the request to PHA and other departments and maintain the same by imposing fine and penalty to the officers of the area or any citizen.

The court also directed all educational institutes, hospitals and parking areas management to make and implement policy for plantation of trees in open spaces.

Similarly, the Punjab government was also directed to impose penalties and heavy fine on those found involved in cutting, removing and damaging trees.

Dawn

“KP Forest Department will carry out 47 percent plantations activities in erstwhile Fata keeping in view of the availability of vast lands to achieve the plantation target of adding one billion saplings under 10BTAP in Khyber Pakthunkhwa by 2023,” KP Forest Department Forests-I Chief Conservator Niaz Ali Khan said on Monday.

He said Rs9.065 billion (33%) of the total amount would be spent on plantations related activities in erstwhile Fata, and the physical targets allotted to merged areas is 47% of the total provincial targets.

Forest dept sets multiple targets for plantation

The chief conservator said BTAP has been extended to erstwhile Fata by the Government with a target of raising of 215,000 hectares (ha) block plantations, 10,000 ha saline and waterlogged, 1200ha plantations on marginalised lands, 90ha avenue plantations, 6760ha dry land and 3200ga wood lots.

Sowing and dribbling would be carried out over 10,000 ha while 1375ha land would be treated under range lands policy besides 10 watershed areas, adding 4,600 forest enclosures would be established besides manmade plantations. Up till now, he said, 1,150ha block plantations, 10ha avenue plantations, 240ha dry land, 1611ha sowing and 0.47 million seedlings were freely distributed among farmers, general public and national buildings departments in erstwhile Fata. As many as 71ha departmental nursery and fruit plant nursery on two hectare and five private nurseries with the help of women were established.

Green initiative: Govt to offer over 5,000 sites for tree plantation in Sindh

In Khyber Forest Division, he said the target of setting up 658 enclosures was achieved. Plantation on 290ha out of the set target of 700ha was achieved besides setting up a departmental nursery on six hectares, raising of1,220 enclosures and planting of 9,34,900 plants in merged areas.

The forests chief said 31, 860 new plantations would be raised out of which 1,400 achieved so far in erstwhile Fata.

Express Tribune

This was revealed in findings, based on detailed computer simulations using the best available global circulation models, were published by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) researcher Elfatih Eltahir in the journal “Science Advances”.

The study found that climate change could lead to summer heat waves with levels of heat and humidity that exceed what humans can survive without protection, in South Asia, a region where one-fifth of the world’s people live.

Under business-as-usual scenarios, without significant reductions in carbon emissions, the study shows that such deadly heat waves could begin within as little as a few decades — striking regions of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, according to researchers.

They also suggested that it could hit the fertile Indus and Ganges river basins that produce much of the region’s food supply.

The study follows an earlier report by Eltahir, which looked at projected heat waves in the Persian Gulf region. The number of extreme-heat days projected there were even worse than for South Asia, but Eltahir said the impact in the latter area could be vastly more severe.

While the Persian Gulf area has a relatively small, relatively wealthy population, and little agricultural land, the areas likely to be hardest hit in northern India, Bangladesh, and southern Pakistan are home to 1.5 billion people.

Such areas are also among the poorest in the region, with much of the population dependent on subsistence farming that requires long hours of hard labour out in the open and unprotected from the sun.

The new analysis is based on recent research showing that hot weather’s most deadly effects for humans come from a combination of high temperature and high humidity, which is measured by a reading known as wet-bulb temperature.

At a wet-bulb temperature of 35 degrees Celsius, the human body can’t cool itself enough to survive more than a few hours.

Actual readings in the Persian Gulf region in the summer of 2015 show that the 35-degree wet-bulb limit had almost been reached already, suggesting that such extremes could begin earlier than projected. The summer of 2015 also produced one of the deadliest heat waves in history in South Asia, killing an estimated 3,500 people in Pakistan and India.

According to scientists, Northern hemisphere summers will deliver dangerously longer heatwaves, droughts and bouts of rain even if humanity manages to cap global warming at two degrees Celsius.

Karachi begins to swelter as Sindh braces for heatwave

With one degree of warming since pre-industrial times so far, extreme weather of this kind has already become more intense, with a single heatwave in 2003 leading to 70,000 excess deaths in Europe alone.

But the new study, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, is the first to quantify how much longer such events are likely to last if temperatures rise another degree.

“We could see a significant shift in summer weather conditions,” said lead author Peter Pfleiderer, a doctoral researcher at Humboldt University in Berlin.

“Extreme weather would become more persistent — hot and dry periods, as well as consecutive days of heavy rain, would all get longer.”

Even small increases in the duration of extreme weather events can have devastating impacts on human health, food production, biodiversity and even economic growth.

Many scientists, however, say 1.5C is no longer within reach — CO2 emissions have climbed to new records for the last two years, and are on track to do so again in 2019.

Express Tribune

During a visit to the Pak­istan Council for Renewable Energy and Technologies on Saturday, Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry rode a battery-operated motorcycle and a rickshaw. The electronic vehicles, according to the minister, would help conserve energy and protect the environment.

Mr Chaudhry said that the battery-operated vehicles, which were the future of transport, would revolutionise transportation in Pakistan that was one of the largest users of motorcycles and rickshaws.

He elaborated on the aim of the government to convert the transport into electronic technology ultimately reducing dependency on petroleum.

“Use of electronic vehicles will reduce carbon emissions in the environment,” the minister said.

Mr Chaudhry also announced the launch of a bottled water brand produced by his ministry that would initially be supplied to government offices.

According to the minister, the bottled water called Safe Drinking Water would be a cheaper alternative to other mineral water brands in the market.

Earlier in July, the Pakistan Council for Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) told a parliamentary committee that all bottled water companies operating in Pakistan were selling “artificial” water instead of natural water.

The PCRWR, a lead research organisation working under the Ministry of Science and Technology, said that other countries did not allow bottled water companies to sell “artificial” water to its people.

With the experiment of introducing cheaper and safer drinking water, Mr Chaudhry expected that soon his ministry would launch a project that would resolve the issue of potable water in the country.

He said that the introduction of cheaper bottled water was in line with the government’s austerity drive.

The trees felled by the university included 65 eucalyptus, five shesham and six popular.

A raiding team from the environment wing of the MCI visited the university on Thursday to look into the issue.

This coincided with the approval of a Rs125 billion project for the countrywide tree plantation by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) on Thursday.

According to an initial report prepared by the MCI (available with Dawn), the AIOU cut the trees without getting permission from the environment wing for which a Rs354,000 fine could be imposed on the university.

University felled the trees without getting permission from MCI environment wing, initial report says

“When we got information, we sent a team to the university. As many as 80 trees, mostly eucalyptus, were cut down. We will move against the university in accordance with rules and regulations,” said Mayor Sheikh Anser Aziz.

He said the university did not get permission which was a violation of rules as across Islamabad no one could cut a tree without permission.

On the other hand, university officials said the trees were felled in good faith to replace them with fruit trees.

A source said an internal committee of the university had recommended felling of the trees to replace them with fruit trees.

AIOU spokesperson Javed Akhtar in his written response told Dawn:

“Actually there was a jungle of wild mulberry and eucalyptus trees which had become a safe haven for wild boars and porcupines. The university plans to clean this area to establish a botanical garden for educational purposes, enabling the students to conduct research. Fruit and valuable plants are to be planted at this place. These include olive plants, moringa plants, kachnar, cassia fistula, plum, pear, apricot, fig, arjan etc.”

He said the university would plant around 3,000 plants in the botanical garden to be set up in the area. The university’s Department of Agriculture Sciences has already planted 1,500 plants under the national plantation drive.

In reply to a question, the spokesperson said a committee comprising experts had recommended the cutting of the trees.

He said university employees living there were also demanding removal of the wooded area.

During the visit of the MCI environment wing officials to the university, heated arguments were exchanged between the team and the lower staff of the university.

The university staffers said the trees were property of the university and located on the campus and the AIOU could cut them. But the environment wing officials were of the view that the university was not authorised to cut any tree.

Dawn

These views were expressed by the KU Vice Chancellor Professor Dr Khalid Mahmood Iraqi on Sunday.

He was addressing to the students at Aiwan-e-Liaquat Girls Hostel, KU. The KU Registrar Professor Dr Shahzad Saleem and Dean, Faculty of Islamic Studies, Professor Dr Shahnaz Ghazi, Provost Girls Hostel Professor Dr Samina Saeed, Dr Sana Mughal and Aamir Iqbal Khan from Aspiration Clean Wave Pakistan and Feroz Khan and Daniyal Hussain from Pakistani Youth Organization, students and others attended the ceremony of tree plantation at girls hostel.

This drive is aimed to beautify the surroundings and it would be a continuous process so we would soon see the changes in the university. The KU has also launched first phase of Landscape Project under which around 1000 sapling of plants would take place from Silver Jubilee Gate till Azadi Chowk.

The tree plantation drive is a great initiative and very necessary for our environmental system as it would help us in reducing the effect of global warming.

The VC informed the audience that plants are also good source of relaxation and keeping the deteriorating environmental conditions, mankind should focus on plant tree in huge quantity. “I have seen and witnesses lot of plantation drive in the city during last 20 years but never saw any of them get succeeded, one of the major reasons of their failure was that most of them were just restricted to photo sessions and no serious efforts were made to make the metropolitan clean, green and beautiful.”

He advised them to adopt young plants rather than going for trees as chances of survival plants are higher as compared to trees and they are also cost effective. The KU VC Professor Dr Khalid Iraqi expressed that owing to the fact that offal and other organs of sacrificial animals are still laying in many parts of the city and bloods of these animals have gone through water and sewerage lines or dried up at the corner of residential and commercial places various viral are spread in Karachi nowadays.

He urged to grow more plants and take good care of them until they start taking care of citizens and create awareness among the masses in this regard. Meanwhile, the Registrar Professor Dr Saleem Shahzad shed lights on the importance of indoor plants and gives tips to the audience how to use them if they have lack of space and couldn’t sapling plant in open space.

“The indoor plants are also use as decoration of rooms and houses, it will change the whole look of the residential and commercial units if planted with proper planning. The indoor plants are good in many aspects and one of them is that it gives more pure oxygen from very close range.”

Other speakers narrated that this is so unfortunate that trees were chopped down from various locations and thousands of trees were planted but due to poor planning and lack of care majority of them had died.

They urged the government to immediately ban tree cutting in order to promote healthy environment and said that plantation drives would only be succeeded if there is seriousness of authorities concerned.

They observed that very person of the society needs to play his/her role in advocating planting a sapling but first they should do it. They narrated that it is the collective responsibility of all of us to plant more and more trees in order to achieve the goal of an environmental friendly society. They said that it will benefit our upcoming generations and trees are signs of life and support the living system on earth.

Later, the KU VC Professor Dr Khalid Iraqi, the Registrar Professor Dr Saleem Shahzad, Professor Dr Shahnaz Ghazi, Professor Dr Samina Saeed, students and others took part in sapling plants at the girls hostel.

The Nation

Additional Commissioner Mohammad Ayub, Deputy Commissioner Kashif Nabi, Agriculture Deputy Director Noor Mohammad, District Forest Officer Shah, Agriculture Officer Muheebulla, B&R Anwar Loni, sub divisional officers, and other officers accompanied the commissioner.

“Planting tree is ‘Sadqa Jariya’ and forests are indispensible for the conservation of life,” Commissioner Baloch said while addressing the ceremony the other day. He laid stress on preserving and increasing forests for securing the future of the next generations.

“Only five per cent of the country’s land is covered with forests,” he said. “Due to lack of forests, we have been grappling with the problems of water scarcity, floods, natural calamities and climate change”.

Zhob commissioner lauded Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Billion Tree Tsunami project and urged every citizen to participate in the drive for making it a success.

Baloch said: “We should not feel that we fulfilled our duty after planting a sapling or a tree. Its nourishment should be part of our responsibility only then we can have a lush green city.”

He called the protection of forests a national duty of the citizens.

Citing benefits of the tree, the commissioner said it provides shade, wealth and makes the weather pleasant. “Such kinds of trees should be grown that require less water as we have water shortage issues.”

Baloch directed the authorities concerned to plant trees at the premises of Loralai Municipal Committee, Levies check posts, public places and edges of highways. Especially at such place where the saplings can be taken care of regularly, he added.

On the occasion, Additional Commissioner Ayub said Loralai Family Park is about to complete and soon will be opened for public in which all facilities will be provided. The commissioner said the park would be a source of entertainment for the people.

Prayers for national security and development were also offered.

Express Tribune

Multiple fires were seen across a vast area of the north-western state of Rondonia on Friday when journalists flew over the area.

Several people in the capital Porto Velho said on Saturday that what appeared to be light clouds hanging over the city was actually smoke from the blazes.

“I’m very worried because of the environment and health,” Delmara Conceicao Silva said. “I have a daughter with respiratory problems and she suffers more because of the fires.”

The fires in the world’s largest rainforest have triggered a global outcry and are a major topic of concern at the G7 meeting in Biarritz in southern France.

Official figures show 78,383 forest fires have been recorded in Brazil this year, the highest number for any year since 2013. Experts say the clearing of land during the months-long dry season to make way for crops or grazing has aggravated the problem.

More than half of the fires are in the Amazon, where more than 20 million people live. Some 1,663 new fires were ignited between Thursday and Friday, according to Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE).

The new data came a day after Bolsonaro authorised the deployment of the military to fight the fires and crack down on criminal activity in the region.

US President Donald Trump and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, both attending the G7 summit, have offered their countries’ assistance in fighting the fires.

“Any help is welcome in respect to the fires,” Brazil’s Defence Minister Fernando Azevedo e Silva told reporters.

Dawn

“Nobody is above the law. The government has written a letter to all stakeholders for strict implementation of the ban on polythene bags,” she said at a news conference.

The state minister’s statement came in the wake of the staff of food chain outlet in Islamabad’s Blue Area roughing up a team of officers, who were out implementing the ban a day earlier.

Gul said the team, which comprised officers of the climate change ministry and Environmental Protection Agency, was not pursuing any personal agenda but simply following directives.

“The anti-plastic bags drive, which kicked off in the federal capital, has been appreciated across the country,” she maintained.

“The Punjab government will implement the ban after the provincial cabinet’s approval while Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has already implemented it.”

The state minister also thanked Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal for expressing their interest in banning plastic bags in their provinces.

“Five million bags are used every year in Pakistan. They don’t decompose and this is a major reason for the choking of the drainage system,” Gul explained.

The minister warned of dire consequences in case anyone challenged the government’s writ by refusing to abide by the ban.

However, she said the government would facilitate shopkeepers in implementing the move.

Speaking on other topics, Gul announced that Prime Minister Imran Khan had endorsed the proposal of launching a dedicated channel with the help of the Information ministry to keep the masses informed about weather forecasts and early flood warning.

“The ministries of climate change, information and water, the irrigation and Met departments and the National Disaster Management Authority will inform the public about any upcoming calamity,” she added.

Gul said the prime minster had also approved the provision of solar stoves to the people living in the country’s northern areas so that they would not have to cut down trees for fire.

Responding to a question, the minister said it was a national responsibility to keep the environment clean.

“We have the example of Karachi where 34 people died during rains because the drainage system was choked,” she noted.

She suggested cotton and jute bags as alternatives to plastic bags.

Replying to another query, the minister said her ministry, with the assistance of Unesco, was drafting a bill to stop the builders’ mafia from cutting mountains for housing societies.

Express Tribune

This was stated by Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Deputy Commissioner Hamza Shafqaat on Monday during a seminar on ‘Ban on plastic bags’. The seminar had been organised by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI).

Shafqaat said that the district administration has banned all kinds of plastics in the federal capital, including plastic bottles and wrappers containing food items as part of their larger Clean and Green campaign in the city.

“We now have an implementation mechanism [for the ban] since the August 14 launch of the plastic ban campaign,” the deputy commissioner said, adding that those who will buy or sell plastic bags will be fined up to Rs5,000.

“We have seen a panic from some vendors who have taken stay orders from the honourable high court against this policy,” Shafqaat admitted.

Despite the initial panic, he claimed that around 60 per cent of markets in the federal capital has “cooperated with the campaign”.

Asked about the implementation plan, the deputy commissioner said that they have divided Islamabad into seven zones.

“We will identify places and gather evidence on sale and use of plastic bags,” he said.

Furthermore, he said that citizens will be given a choice to buy re-useable bags to reduce plastic bags in circulation.

“This has been allowed to the people so that they should not depend on cloth bags donated by the government,” he explained.

Noting that it is not a challenge that they could overcome, he hoped that their aggressive campaign against plastics and the cooperation of the public over the next 45 days, “we will try that plastic bags are not seen in Islamabad.”

Earlier, Minister of State for Climate Change Zartaj Gul said that the government is determined to continue with its anti-plastic bag drive to lift the burden of plastic from society.

This, Wazir hoped, will also help make the society more climate-resilient.

“Islamabad is a test case and we need to work on behaviour change,” she said, adding, “We need to use alternative bags made of clothes and other non-plastic material as our ancestors used to do for long.”

Pointing to the recent flooding in various cities of the country during the recent spell of monsoon rains, Wazir said that the main reason for it was the choking of drains due to plastic bags dumped into them.

“Why are we shying away from cleaning [cities] ourselves?” she asked in a veiled swipe at provincial governments.

Explaining the decision to allow certain companies to continue using plastic bottles, the state minister said that such companies have been instructed to share their recycling plans with the government.

She urged people living in areas where there is no ban on plastic yet to at least start changing their habits and mindset on the use of plastic.

The minister also urged the media and civil society to help strengthen the ‘Say no plastic bags’ campaign.

We love to park our cars under a tree but we do not bother to plant trees in the first place. The government in consultation with all the provinces is promoting the concept of clean and green Pakistan, the minister added.

Professor Usman Chaudhry called for involving the youth to support the plastic bag ban campaigns. Noting that plastic bags, emission and pollution affect all members of the society, he said that we are already late in combating plastic waste.

“We are reactive but not proactive, which does not help societies develop,” he said. In this regard, he stated that funding from the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) accounts of industries need to support initiatives such as ‘say no to plastic bags.

Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) member Ahmed Hassan Mughal said that a big issue is that duty on import of plastic is low.

He voiced concerns that a complete ban on the commodity will impact the plastic business and even the paper industry and a large number of people employed in these sectors will be jobless if we completely abolish bags.

Mughal warned that it could impact other sectors as well and posed how does the government aim to help those who will be impacted through alternate solutions?

He suggested collective strategies to ensure the policy does not fail. 

Express Tribune

This policy of Clean Karachi had made the life of the common man miserable, said Sindh Information Minister Saeed Ghani while talking to reporters on the premises of Sindh Assembly building here on Monday.

Answering questions, Mr Ghani said that since the campaign was launched by the federal minister, not a single truck was sent to the landfill sites. This is despite the fact that one day before launching the campaign, he had told the federal minister, in the capacity of then local bodies minister, that they should dump the waste at the landfill sites, he said.

He also had duly informed the managing director and other officers concerned of the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board (SSWMB) about the activity, but so far no truck had taken garbage to the site.

He said he had requested the federal minister if he (Ali Zaidi) was not able to take removed filth and waste from the city to the landfill sites, the drive should be immediately stopped.

In reply to another question, the minister said the Sindh government had never allowed Ali Zaidi to utilise garbage transfer centres or open spaces for dumping of the waste of storm-water drains.

Mr Ghani said the Sindh government was quite competent to solve the problems being faced by people, but the services were affected when the provincial government was paid Rs125 billion less than the promised amount from the federal share. It was due to incompetence and inefficiency of the federal government in collection of its targeted revenue that the Sindh government could not implement its many public-oriented welfare projects, Mr Ghani claimed.

However, if compared to other provinces after the rains, the state of affairs in Sindh was far better, he added.

In reply to another question about dewatering of the rainwater standing in Thatta and other parts of Sindh, he said that after the recent monsoon rains, government activities were affected due to high tide in different areas. However all resources were being utilised to improve the situation, he said. “We don’t have a magic wand to dewater the area.”

Dawn

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Dawn : Drive Against open littering in city launched officially 

In Islamabad, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Zafar Mirza planted a sapling at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims).

He urged the public to play their proactive role in making the plantation project a success and plant maximum saplings. Planting trees, he stressed, will help the country cope with climatic changes besides ensuring the provision of a healthy and greener environment to the upcoming generations.

The Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration planted 1,000 saplings along the Kashmir Highway.

The drive was inaugurated by Interior Minister Ijaz Ahmad Shah by planting a sapling along the highway in Sector G-13.

During the event, the minister was told about the steps taken under Clean, Green Islamabad initiative, and the project to plant a million plants on self-help basis by involving different sections of society and that they intend to plant a further million trees in the ongoing monsoon season.

He was told that a survey has shown that the survival rate of the planted trees was 70 per cent. Moreover, he was told that trees were being planted at seven locations across the city simultaneously and that they had a target of planting 10,000 trees on Sunday.

Elsewhere in the federal capital, 100 trees were planted in collaboration with Siraat-e-Naat Association at the Lok Virsa complex in Shakarparian

Rawalpindi afforestation

More than 500,000 saplings were planted in Rawalpindi on Sunday as a drive under the ‘Plant for Pakistan Day’ kicked off at the Mandra Toll Plaza.

The drive was organized in partnership with the Rawalpindi Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA), the National Highways Authority (NHA) and the Rawalpindi district administration.

Lawmakers participating in the ceremony pledged to take care of the saplings until they had completely grown.

MPA Haji Majad said that the forest department owned large stretches of land in his locality where plantation could be done. Similarly, MPA Chaudhry Adnan said that trees will be planted on the thousands of acres of illegally occupied land seized from land grabbers and illegal occupants.

PHA Chairman Asif Mehmood said that the government’s Billion Tree Tsunami campaign has created awareness amongst the public about the importance of trees and that it was everyone’s responsibility to look after saplings until they have grown.

Rawalpindi Commissioner Saqib Zafar said that the plantation drive is underway across the country. Deputy Commissioner (DC) Ali Randhawa said that that a campaign at the Union Council (UC) level was underway in which the civil society and students will be included.

An interesting situation arose during the ceremony when a forest department official complained that he was getting calls from lawmakers if he changed an employee who was not working.

The lawmakers immediately responded that this will not happen anymore as the government has changed.

Jhelum drive

Like the rest of the country, the ‘Plant for Pakistan’ campaign was also launched in Jhelum on Sunday. Jhelum Deputy Commissioner Anwar Jappa along with Additional DC, Syed Nazarzat kicked off the campaign by planting a sapling and later distributed saplings amongst citizens.

The district government will be distributing some 21,500 saplings in 500 nurseries in Jhelum, the DC said.

District and Sessions Judge, Muhammad Akmal Khan launched the campaign by planting a sapling in the Sessions court.

Express Tribune 

The theme of “Plant for Pakistan Day” was “One person – two Tree” and officers of divisional/district administrations and other departments planted two tree in this regard, one tree for Pakistan and one tree was dedicated for Kashmir Solidarity. Divisional Commissioner Mehmud Javed Bhatti inaugurated the Tree for Pakistan Day by planting two trees at Gutwala Forest Park. Later, he also planted plants at Municipal Corporation Complex, Park of PHA at Samundri road and Agriculture University.

Vice Chancellor Agri. University Professor Dr Muhammad Ashraf, faculty members, DG PHA Asif Ch, Divisional Forest Officer Wajeeh ud Din Ahmad, CO Municipal Corporation Sardar Naseer, AC Musawar Khan Niazi, Municipal Officer Malik Ashraf, Divisional Sports Officer Tariq Nazir and other officers/staff were also present on the occasion.

Expressing his views, Divisional Commissioner Mehmud Javed Bhatti highlighted the significance and importance of trees and said that new passion had been emerged in the nation for planting trees so as Prime Minister Imran Khan announced the 10 billion Tsunami programme to achieve the glorious objectives of Green Pakistan. He said that now the every citizen of Pakistan was following tree plantation campaign by realising its importance. He emphasised upon increasing the wealth of forest to provide pollution free environment to the coming generation. He urged upon the proper and regular care of the plants and said that trees should be looked after like the children for its nourishment so that real objective of tree plantation could be achieved.

He informed that officers of all departments in Faisalabad division had been directed for planting the plants at the available sites and post planting care must be done. He said that regular monitoring of the trees planted during the campaign would be made by the divisional administration and performance in this regard could be highlighted in the annual evaluation report of the officers.

VC Agri University Professor Dr Muhammad Ashraf informed that the tree plantation campaign was properly implemented at all the sub campuses as well and Agri University was actively taking part in the Green Pakistan campaign which would be made a success. DFO Wajeeh ud Din informed that the target has been set to plant the 0.8 million trees in Faisalabad division by December 2019. He said that Forest department had taken elaborated measures for planting maximum trees and a number of saplings were being provided to the citizens during this campaign.

DG PHA Asif Ch said that big trees were being planted at the public parks, green belts and other available sites in the city. He hoped that Faisalabad would be made green by planting maximum trees.

CO Municipal Corporation Sardar Naseer said that the special attention was being given on providing civic facilities to the citizens besides taking part in the tree plantation campaign.

Meanwhile, 700 plants were planted by the officers of Faisalabad Development Authority at FDA City in connection with the Tree for Pakistan Day. DG FDA Amir Aziz, ADG Mian Jameel, Director Ch Sarwar and other officers were present on the occasion. DG FDA Amir Aziz informed that 10,000 plants would be planted during the monsoon tree plantation campaign.

He expressed his commitment that FDA would play its role to make the Green Pakistan Campaign a success. In connection with the Tree for Pakistan Day, Deputy Commissioner Sardar Saifullah Dogar and other officers of district administration planted plants at DC Complex.

Business Recorder 

As per the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan and on the special directives of Federal Minister for Communications and Postal Services Murad Saeed, NHA observed August 18, as “Plant for Pakistan Day” also marked withstanding united with the Kashmiri brethren.

To this effect, NHA planted trees all along the national highways located in Punjab, Sindh, KP, Balochistan and Gilgit Baltistan.

In this regard, NHA arranged two ceremonies in Rawalpindi Division. One was held at T-Chowk near Rawat while other was a joint ceremony held with the cooperation of Punjab Forest Department and Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA) at Kalyam on G.T. Road (N-5) near Mandra.

The ceremony was a gesture of firm commitment of Prime Minister of Pakistan Mr. Imran Khan and special directive of Federal Minister for Communications and Postal Services Mr. Murad Saeed towards afforestation before the world that will pave the way for providing momentum to the activities under the 10 billion tree tsunami programme.  It was informed that ¼ area of the world is consist of forests. Trees not only provide healthy environment but they also provide guard against national disasters like floods, land sliding and adverse effects of the changing climate. Speaking on the occasion, Chief Conservator Rawalpindi Khizer Hayat informed that today 150 million saplings are being planted across the country and in Rawalpindi Division 535,511 saplings are being planted.

MPA Javed Kousar was of the view that after planting, taking care of saplings is a matter of more importance.

NHA’s General Manager Talat Mehmood Gondal said NHA will continue its afforestation programme in the country.

‘Every person-two tree’

campaign commenced in Gujranwala

Commissioner Waqas Ali Mehmood on Sunday inaugurated the “every person—two tree” plantation campaign by planting a sapling on the premises of commissioner office.

Officers of agriculture, forest and other government departments were present on the occasion. While addressing the ceremony, the commissioner said that about 1 million saplings would be planted during the current monsoon season for which the Forest Department had completed its arrangements, and this target would be achieved by the collaboration of education, agriculture, forest and other government departments throughout the region.

The Nation

The chief minister, while addressing the inaugural ceremony of the campaign, announced to name the place allocated for tree plantation after Kashmir Park. “We express complete solidarity with the Kashmiri people who are facing brutalities in Indian-held Kashmir.”

He added that the provincial government has approved the summary of a ban on using polythene bags which will soon be implemented after the approval of the next cabinet meeting.

‘Green gold’: Pakistan plants hundreds of millions of trees

He briefed that the target of increasing forest areas will be achieved in the next four years. “The tree plantation project will prove to be a game-changer in the environmental history of the country.”

He further said that plantation of trees is among the top priorities of the incumbent government. “Government and civil society give due importance to a plantation. Billions of rupees have been allocated for protecting the forests and plantation.”

He claimed that a record 420 million saplings will be planted for the first time in the history of Pakistan. “Saplings will be planted in government, private and defence lands in the province. Thousands of acres of land have been retrieved and are being given to government institutions.”

Forest dept sets multiple targets for plantation

Advisor to the Prime Minister Malik Ameen Aslam said that the CM is serving the people of the province in an active manner and his role for the success of a clean and green Pakistan is very vibrant. He appealed to the people that every citizen should plant one sapling for Pakistan and one for Kashmir. He briefed that the ministry has received a grant of Rs24 billion during the year for reducing environmental pollution.

Express Tribune

Minister of State for Climate Change Zartaj Gull, Adviser to Prime Minister on Climate Change Malik Ameen Aslam, Federal Parliamentary Secretary for Climate Change and a large number of scouts also planted trees and prayed for the success of campaign.

While addressing the inaugural ceremony of tree plantation campaign 2019, the chief minister announced to name the place allocated for tree plantation in Khudpur after Kashmir Park and said 50 acres of government’s retrieved land dedicated to the Kashmiri brethren. He said the announcement to name one road in every district and one park in every division after Kashmir will soon be implemented. “We express complete solidarity with the Kashmiri people who are facing Indian brutalities in Occupied Kashmir,” he said.

Usman Buzdar said law of polythene-free Punjab will soon be enforced and ban will soon be imposed on plastic bags in Punjab. Punjab government has already approved the summary of the ban which will soon be implemented after the approval of the next cabinet meeting. He said the target of increasing forest areas will be achieved in next four years. Billion tree projects will prove to be a game-changer in the environmental history of the country. He said tree plantation is among the top priorities of the PTI government and both, govt and civil society give due importance to the plantation. Billion Tree Tsunami project has been launched for bringing a green revolution in the country.

Billions of rupees have been allocated for protecting the forests and plantation. He said record 42 crores saplings would be planted for the first time in the history of Pakistan at government, private and defence lands in Punjab. Thousands of acres of land have been retrieved and is being given to the government institutions. The CM said plantation has been carried out after retrieving 50 acres of land from qabza mafia in Khudpur as it is the best use of state land. He said the students and people from different walks of life are included in this process.

Adviser to PM Malik Ameen Aslam said Prime Minister Imran Khan has dreamed about making Pakistan green and we all are gathered here for giving practical shape to his dream. Pakistan will be made clean and green. He said the ministry has received a grant of Rs 24 billion during the year for reducing environmental pollution.

Zartaj Gull said performance of Usman Buzdar is better than other provinces and this has been acknowledged in a report as well. She said Pakistan is rich in natural beauty but no planning was made in connection with protecting the environment during the last tenure. She said practical measures have been taken by the PTI government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan for giving the new generation a clean and green Pakistan.

Business Recorder 

The chief minister would plant a sapling in Shahkas area of Khyber district to inaugurate the drive under which five million saplings would be planted throughout the province.

According to an official handout, 150,000 saplings would be planted in Peshawar alone, whereas similar plantation drive would be carried out by the district administrations, forest department, education department and line departments in all the districts of the province.

Under the previous PTI-led provincial government, one billion afforestation project was successfully completed, due to which the forest cover of the province has increased by 6.3 percent.

Additionally, the project also provided job opportunities to more than 500,000 individuals, whereas according to the reports of the World Wildlife Fund, the survival rate of the plantation, 88 percent was reported highly satisfactory.

According to the statement, the present government is committed to planting 1 billion trees during its current tenure in order to cope with the challenges of global warming and environmental pollution along with providing livelihood opportunities to citizens. Mahmood Khan said the government has extended the plantation drive to the merged districts.

The News

According to details 150,000 sapling will be planted in Peshawar alone whereas similar plantation drive will be carried out by the district administrations, forest department, education department and all concerned line departments in all the districts of the province.

It is pertinent to mention here that under the previous PTI led provincial government; one billion afforestation project was successfully completed due to which the forest cover of the province has increased by 6.3%.

Additionally the project also provided job opportunities to more than 500,000 individuals, whereas according to the reports of World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the survival rate of the plantation i.e. 88% was reported highly satisfactory.

Business Recorder

He was speaking at a briefing on “Clean and Green Pakistan Index” project, progress in 10 billion tree project ban on use of polythene bags in Islamabad, electric vehicles policy, rules and regulations about green buildings and other steps for environmental protection in Islamabad on Saturday.

The Prime Minister said public awareness should be created about climate change issues. He said public response to the campaign of banning use of polythene bags in the federal capital is encouraging, and schools and students should be made part of the campaign to make it a success.

The Prime Minister said the federal capital should be made a model city in respect of environmental protection, and later the campaign should be extended to other cities of the country.

The Advisor on Climate Change briefed the Prime Minister that the process of planning regarding ten billion tree tsunami at provincial level has been completed, and its PC-I has been prepared. He said about 3.25 billion trees will be planted in the first phase of the project, which will be reviewed after two years.

Malik Amin Aslam briefed the meeting that encouraging results were received about ban on the use of polythene bags in the federal capital at initial level, and the decision is being appreciated by all segments of the society. He said policy has been formulated regarding electric vehicles, which will soon be presented to the federal cabinet. He said rules and regulations for green buildings have also been designed, which will also be unfolded soon.

The Advisor also briefed on “Clean and Green Pakistan Index” project, which will be launched in September. Under the Clean and Green Pakistan Index project with the participation of the federal, provincial and local governments, cities and the surrounding areas will be graded in respect of provision and drainage of water, solid waste management, cleanliness, and ratio of trees. In the first phase, Clean and Green Index project will be initiated in twelve cities of Punjab and seven cities of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The Advisor on Climate Change also briefed on tree plantation campaign being launched in Lahore tomorrow, in which thirty million saplings will be planted.

Business Recorder

He explained that this meant that when temperatures rise by 1°C in the rest of the world, the resulting increase in temperatures in Pakistan will be more than 1°C.

“One degree may sound insignificant, but it will have dire consequences especially when Pakistan is already the seventh-most vulnerable country in the world to the impacts of the altering climate,” he said at a press conference.

Mr Aslam was sharing the findings of a new report that warned of rising temperatures in Pakistan in the next 30 to 40 years.

Says policy on electric cars ready to be presented to cabinet after Eid

The adviser began the presser by condemning Indian atrocities committed in India-held Kashmir and India’s recent abrogation of the autonomous status of Kashmir in violation of international commitments.

He went on to say: “Indian state terrorism is not limited in Kashmir, but extends to destroying the natural environment also, after Indian fighter aircraft bombed and destroyed forests inside Pakistan earlier on Friday.”

He said a United Nations mission has recommended amendments in the Geneva Convention to include environmental terrorism as a clause.

Mr Aslam said one of the ways to counter the effects of climate change is the government’s 10 billion tree plantation campaign.

He said the international community has already recognised the billion tree plantation campaign in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

“Forest cover in KP has increased by 6.6pc. The plantation campaign is being extend throughout the country. As many as 3.5bn trees will be planted in the first phase at a cost of $1bn,” he said.

Other measures to counter the impact of climate change include banning single-use plastic bags, he said, adding that 55bn single-use plastic bags are produced in a year and are a major environmental hazard.

“The production of alternative bags has already picked up and the plastic bag manufacturers have reported a decline in the demand for plastic bags,” Mr Aslam said.

He also announced that a policy on electric cars is ready and will be presented in cabinet after Eidul Azha, which will give the transport sector a new direction.

“We have managed to acquire a grant of $150 million for five projects to improve the status of the environment. The German government has also approved a €12m project for the tree plantation campaign. Another €8m grant has also been approved to promote eco-tourism in Pakistan,” he added.

Dawn

Cautioning the government’s health agencies, the health experts warn of an emergency-like situation in the city and have advised the provincial government and city administration to take appropriate measures to mitigate the impending crisis.

Most doctors in the city have witnessed a rise in the number of patients affected by various diseases such as gastroenteritis, typhoid, cholera, hepatitis A and E, conjunctivitis, skin diseases, diarrhoea, malaria, dengue and chikungunya.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Pakistan Medical Association secretary-general Dr SM Qaiser Sajjad said that despite its size and population, the provincial capital has never been given due attention before and after rain. “This time, the situation might be different as stagnant rainwater has not been removed in over a week,” said Dr Sajjad. The rainwater on roads and streets provides an ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes.

“We, as citizens, have to behave properly. One must not dispose of garbage everywhere. It ultimately disturbs the whole system,” advised Dr Sajjad, adding that government and non-governmental organisations should come forward and launch awareness sessions through camps and media.

Chest specialist and family physician, Dr Abdul Ghafoor Shoro, said that a rise in the incidence of water-borne diseases has already been observed after last week’s downpour. Dr Shoro added that viral and bacterial diseases will affect residents living in low-lying areas the most. “I fear the situation will take a turn for the worse after Eid,” he added.

Criticising the measures taken by the Sindh government after the first monsoon rains in Karachi, Dr Shoro said that it has not taken any concrete steps yet. “Cases of water-borne diseases are multiplying on a daily basis,” he said, adding that the water distribution agency [Karachi Water and Sewerage Board] was primarily responsible for the sorry state of affairs. “The people of Karachi are consuming contaminated water,” he remarked. “Even after heavy rainfalls, citizens are provided polluted water as pipelines of sewerage and water are fixed side by side without proper planning.”

‘All-is-well’

Sialkot residents vulnerable to water-borne diseases

For his part, Sindh Health Director General Dr Masood Ahmed Solangi rejected the health experts’ analysis, saying that the situation was under control across the province. “Rainwater doesn’t cause water borne-diseases,” he said. “Water supply agencies [such as the KWSB] should maintain their infrastructure. The health department remains high alert in emergency situations,” he added.

Justifying his remarks, Dr Solangi said that the stagnant water in Karachi will not cause harm to citizens until it changes its color. “I think the dewatering process is under way and I am not worried if it remains there even for even another week.”

“I absolutely reject news of any outbreak of water-borne diseases in the city or anywhere else,” the Health DG said. “Only snake bite cases are being reported from remote areas like Umerkot and Tharparkar.”

During a meeting with Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Wednesday, health department officials informed him that the dilapidated infrastructure of the KWSB will be responsible for diseases after the monsoon rains in cities like Karachi and Hyderabad.

The Express Tribune

Cautioning the government’s health agencies, the health experts warn of an emergency-like situation in the city and have advised the provincial government and city administration to take appropriate measures to mitigate the impending crisis.

Most doctors in the city have witnessed a rise in the number of patients affected by various diseases such as gastroenteritis, typhoid, cholera, hepatitis A and E, conjunctivitis, skin diseases, diarrhoea, malaria, dengue and chikungunya.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Pakistan Medical Association secretary-general Dr SM Qaiser Sajjad said that despite its size and population, the provincial capital has never been given due attention before and after rain. “This time, the situation might be different as stagnant rainwater has not been removed in over a week,” said Dr Sajjad. The rainwater on roads and streets provides an ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes.

“We, as citizens, have to behave properly. One must not dispose of garbage everywhere. It ultimately disturbs the whole system,” advised Dr Sajjad, adding that government and non-governmental organisations should come forward and launch awareness sessions through camps and media.

Chest specialist and family physician, Dr Abdul Ghafoor Shoro, said that a rise in the incidence of water-borne diseases has already been observed after last week’s downpour. Dr Shoro added that viral and bacterial diseases will affect residents living in low-lying areas the most. “I fear the situation will take a turn for the worse after Eid,” he added.

Criticising the measures taken by the Sindh government after the first monsoon rains in Karachi, Dr Shoro said that it has not taken any concrete steps yet. “Cases of water-borne diseases are multiplying on a daily basis,” he said, adding that the water distribution agency [Karachi Water and Sewerage Board] was primarily responsible for the sorry state of affairs. “The people of Karachi are consuming contaminated water,” he remarked. “Even after heavy rainfalls, citizens are provided polluted water as pipelines of sewerage and water are fixed side by side without proper planning.”

For his part, Sindh Health Director General Dr Masood Ahmed Solangi rejected the health experts’ analysis, saying that the situation was under control across the province. “Rainwater doesn’t cause water borne-diseases,” he said. “Water supply agencies [such as the KWSB] should maintain their infrastructure. The health department remains high alert in emergency situations,” he added.

Justifying his remarks, Dr Solangi said that the stagnant water in Karachi will not cause harm to citizens until it changes its color. “I think the dewatering process is under way and I am not worried if it remains there even for even another week.”

“I absolutely reject news of any outbreak of water-borne diseases in the city or anywhere else,” the Health DG said. “Only snake bite cases are being reported from remote areas like Umerkot and Tharparkar.”

During a meeting with Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Wednesday, health department officials informed him that the dilapidated infrastructure of the KWSB will be responsible for diseases after the monsoon rains in cities like Karachi and Hyderabad.

Express Tribune

According to a weatherman, a well-marked monsoon low pressure has formed over the North Bay of Bengal and its adjoining areas, so there is a likelihood of moderate monsoon currents from Bay of Bengal penetrating into upper parts of the country on Wednesday and intensifying on Thursday and Friday to cause heavy rains.

“Under the influence of this weather system, the widespread rains coupled with wind and thunderstorms are expected in Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Lahore, Sargodha and Faisalabad divisions, Islamabad and Azad Jammu and Kashmir and at scattered places in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from Wednesday (evening/night) to Saturday,” he said.

The PMD official also forecast isolated rains along with wind and thunderstorms in Multan, DG Khan, Sahiwal and Bahawalpur divisions from Wednesday evening or night to Saturday and isolated moderate-to-heavy rainfall in Hazara, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Lahore and Faisalabad divisions, Islamabad and Azad Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday and Friday.

He warned that heavy rains could generate flash floods in Hazara, Malakand, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala and DG Khan divisions and Azad Jammu and Kashmir, while urban flooding was likely to occur in Peshawar, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Lahore, Sargodha and Faisalabad divisions on Thursday and Friday.

The weatherman also warned that the possibility of landslides in Malakand and Hazara divisions, Gilgit- Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir couldn’t be ruled out during the period. He asked all authorities concerned to remain alert and take precautionary measures against heavy rains and floods.

In another advisory, the PMD forecast widespread rains in Sindh’s Mirpurkhas, Thatta, Hyderabad, Karachi and Shaheed Benazirabad divisions from Friday evening or night to Monday morning.

It said scattered rains coupled with wind and thunderstorms would occur in Zhob, Kalat, Sibbi, Naseerabad, Makran, Sukkur and Larkana divisions during the period, while isolated moderate-to-heavy rains would fall in lower Sindh’s Mirpurkhas, Thatta, Hyderabad, Karachi and Shaheed Benazirabad divisions and Balochistan’s Kalat, Zhob, Naseerabad and Sibi divisions from Friday night to Sunday.

The PMD warned that heavy downpour could generate floods in Karachi, Thatta, and Hyderabad divisions from Friday night to Sunday and flash floods in Balochistan’s Kalat, Sibi, Zhob and Naseerabad divisions during the period.

The News

Terming the success story of KP fantastic, Thiaw said, “The best investment we can make in the world today is to combat desertification, combat climate change and to reduce biodiversity loss. But at the same time build the local and rural economy, create job opportunities, promote renewable energy. Land restoration is essential because 98 percent of the food comes from land.”

He said it was critical that we understand links between land degradation and poverty alleviation. The executive secretary later in his tweet termed Pakistan’s presentation as “impressive” one and hoped to work together in partnering with Pakistan.

The Kabuqi Desert Forum was held last month in China in order to showcase efforts of the Chinese government to restore Kabuqi Desert into green forests. Since 1988, about a third of the desert, which is more than 6000 square kilometers, has been transformed into forests. Ibrahim Thiaw is the Executive Secretary of the UN Convention on Combating Desertification. UNCCD works to mitigate the effects of drought through national action programs that incorporate long-term strategies supported by international cooperation and partnership.

The News

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Dawn: ‘Clean Karachi’

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Adviser to the Prime Minister on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam also told senators that the use of plastic bags is a serious concern for the country because they pollute rivers and negatively impact human health.

He said the Indus River is the second-most polluted river in the world because of plastic bags. Plastic contamination of food and water affects people’s health, he said, and every Pakistan is consuming plastic equivalent to the size of a credit card.

Mr Aslam also said that using polythene bags will be banned in Islamabad from Aug 14, and the provinces will be informed of the policy so they can legislate for themselves.

Ministry should form committee to find solution to plastic bag industry shutdown, unemployment, climate change committee chair says

As an alternative to plastic bags, he said the government is working to adopt the Kenyan model of making shopping bags from plants which will be biodegradable.

He said that in addition to plastic bags, bags used for potato chips are also a pollutant. He said that the government has asked manufacturers of such bags to collect and recycle them, or they too will be banned in the capital.

In response to a question, Minister of State for Climate Change Zartaj Gul said the ban on plastic bags is only for Islamabad. The subject of the environment has been transferred to the provinces under the 18th Amendment, and they will decide whether to ban plastic bags in their regions.

Ms Gul said the federal government’s jurisdiction is limited to the capital, adding that the provinces will be informed of the policy and “will also adopt the policy of the federal government but they should make legislation of their own”.

When asked about the effect on manufacturers, who say that 8,000 industrial units will be closed and a million workers unemployed, she said the ban will not shut down the industry and leave people unemployed but will create a new industry.

“An alternate source will be developed soon. Paper, cloth and jute bags will increase employment for women in home-based industry,” she said.

Representatives of plastic bag manufacturers were also at the meeting, and told senators that increasing the thickness of polythene bags from 15 to 50 microns will reduce their use and end pollution.

They said bags that are 10-12 microns thick cost 25 paisas to produce, while 50 micron thick bags cost Rs3.5 per piece and will reduce use, as people will reuse such bags many times and will not dispose of them out in the open.

They also claimed that more trees will be cut down to make paper bags as an alternative for plastic bags.

Climate change ministry officials challenged the figures of industry and workers, saying there was no registration of plastic bag manufacturers and representatives had shared different figures from those presented before the committee.

Committee chair Senator Sitara Ayaz said the ministry shouldform a technical committee to find a solution to the industry shutdown and the loss of employment for workers, while introducing alternatives to plastic shopping bags.

Climate change officials told the committee that seven months of deliberation and negotiation were held with all the stakeholders, mainly the plastic bags association, recycling association and academia. They said experts and scientists guided the ministry on legislation to ban plastic bags.

Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency Director General Farzana Altaf Shah said Islamabad has a population of 2m, and three to six bags are used per person every day.

She said there are seven environment protection agencies across the country, and meetings will be held on plastic bag alternatives and harm to the environment in order to regulate plastic bags in all the provinces.

The committee also discussed wrapping luggage in plastic at airports, but Aviation Division officials said wrapping luggage in plastic is not mandatory except for pilgrims travelling under the Road to Makkah programme.

Dawn

“This campaign shows good intentions of our government … but I must say this city’s problems cannot end until we rein in its unplanned growth,” said the minister while addressing the inaugural ceremony at the Karachi Port Trust head office.

Mayor Wasim Akhtar and leaders of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement also attended the ceremony.

Mr Zaidi said the campaign was being run in two phases; in the first phase the heavy machinery supplied, operated and overseen by the FWO would be used to completely clean stormwater drains and, in the second phase, hundreds of katchi abadis in the city would be covered.

Thanking the army for assigning the FWO collaboration, he said the grand initiative would require at least 15,000 volunteers who could shoulder the FWO and other agencies engaged in the campaign.

“[PTI and MQM] MNAs and MPAs along with the municipal bodies concerned would be there to assist the people in the job.”

He said the KPT along with Karachi Metropolitan Corporation, had also cleaned drains on its land, yet, because of not lifting and disposing of garbage, it made its way into drains again and failed the authorities in their bid to clean the city.

“We want to show [the Sindh government] at least once that ‘if there is a will there is a way’; we will clean the city and leave it on the provincial government to maintain it in future.”

He said the city’s cleanliness was a huge call to respond to for which heavy machinery was required and would now be provided by the FWO.

The FWO, he added, had held long meetings with the city’s local bodies and had chalked out a plan how to make it a success.

Speaking about the hundreds of katchi abadis in the city, Minister Zaidi said, more than half of the city’s population lived in those unplanned neighbourhoods and they were the most challenging areas. He said until an effective master plan was devised and implemented, the city’s problems would continue to haunt everyone.

“This is not possible for the federal government to do on its own only,” he said and added, “people should help our teams and volunteers to lift garbage from their respective areas and hand it to over to the waiting dumpers”. He appealed to the people not to use plastic bottles, polythene bags, etc.

Mayor Wasim Akhtar said because of scarce financial resources at his disposal, it was not humanly possible for him to get the city cleaned on his own.

Despite that, he added, the KMC had cleaned the city’s drains, which was why they did not overflow during the recent rains.

He rubbished the Sindh government’s demand that the KMC should furnish details of its expenditures, adding, his office had duly sent those financial details to the provincial authorities.

“After receiving constant refusals from the Sindh government for the required funds, I was forced to urge the maritime affairs minister in writing to help us out, because his ministry was managing two ports in the city,” he said.

He said almost every penny given to the KMC was being spent on paying the salaries and pensions of workers while the Sindh government gave meagre funds for development.

“Everyone should ask the Sindh government where Karachi’s money is going.”

He said he would fully support the cleanliness campaign.

Dawn

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Ministry of Climate Change Deputy Director Media Mohammad Saleem told Dawn that Mr Khan was displeased with the destruction of trees to build a stadium.

“The land was retrieved on orders from the Supreme Court. Now, the prime minister will plant a sapling to contribute to the restoration of retrieved forest land,” he said.

The government’s monsoon plantation drive, during which it aims to plant 500,000 saplings in the capital, is expected to continue until mid-October.

Mr Saleem said government departments, civil society and students will plant 200,000 saplings on Monday.

As part of the campaign, the government has also set up kiosks across the twin cities where citizens can acquire saplings. The plantation drive will target parks, roadsides and other open spaces.

“It is estimated that an additional 500,000 saplings will be planted in Islamabad throughout the monsoon with the help of the private sector, housing societies, educational institutes, corporate sector and business community etc to match the target of 1.1 million for the spring plantation earlier this year,” Mr Saleem said.

The drive in Islamabad is part of the national monsoon tree plantation campaign, under the 10 Billion Tree Tsunami programme that Mr Khan will inaugurate on Aug 18. The total programme will cost Rs125 billion, of which Rs7bn was approved by the prime minister for 2019.

Air University also began a tree plantation campaign in Pir Sohawa, on the Margalla Hills, on Sunday. Some 4,000 seed balls were spread throughout the area, with university students focusing specifically on areas damaged by recent forest fires. Participants also collected garbage and plastic bags from the hills.

Dawn

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The ‘Clean Karachi’ drive is being launched on the directives of Prime Minister Imran Khan in close partnership with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-led local government set-up and federal institutions like Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) and National Logistics Cell.

Minister for Maritime Affairs Ali Zaidi of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf had announced the campaign earlier this week in Islamabad.

The issue of cleanliness in Karachi often brings the Pakistan Peoples Party-led Sindh government under serious criticism since it has been ruling the province for the past 11 years and enjoying the management control of key civic institutions like the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board, Sindh Solid Waste Management Board and Sindh Building Control Authority.

On Saturday, Mr Zaidi formally briefed the media about the plan and its execution during the next two weeks at a press conference held at his office in the Karachi Port Trust building.

Maritime Affairs Minister Ali Zaidi says the Sindh govt has so far not contacted him regarding the initiative

“In the first phase we are going to clear all storm drains in the city,” he said. “I have very clear directives from PM Imran Khan who said clean the city — whatever it takes.”

“We are determined and moving with a very positive approach. I am thankful to Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar and our [PTI] MPAs and MNAs, who have assured their full support and are all set to achieve the target,” he said. “Last night, I watched a news channel [report] that a Sindh minister was saying that he would contact me to extend his support. But no such thing has happened yet.”

Mr Zaidi said the prime minister had directed that Karachi could not be left helpless the way it had been by the Sindh government for such a long time.

He said his ministry had talked to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) for its role in situations like heavy rains. Besides, he said, the FWO and NLC would be providing logistic support for the ‘Clean Karachi’ campaign.

“It’s quite unfortunate that the Sindh government has never cared about Karachi and its people and their mismanagement of the past 11 years has now resulted in the massive suffering of the citizens of this megacity,” the minister said.

“We need to find a permanent solution and we are standing shoulder to shoulder with the mayor of Karachi to cope with the emergency situation triggered by the recent rains in the city. Our campaign has received tremendous response from the people as well and we look forward to the contribution of every segment of society,” he said.

He said that over 30 private companies, celebrities and around 10,000 volunteers had pledged their support to the campaign and the number was growing with each passing day.

Several industries and their managements wanted to financially contribute to this campaign, he said and added: “A proper mechanism has been developed for ensuring transparency in spending funds.”

Dawn

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Talking to this agency, he said the Ministry of Climate Change under the legislation namely the statutory regulatory order (SRO) approved by the cabinet gave liberty for the plastic bag producers to adopt innovative substitutes for polythene bags. Like jute, cotton, recycle and reusable plastic bags and biodegradable organic solutions namely potato starch bags were permissible, he added.

He added that environmental sciences students had come up with many out of the box solutions which could be replicated for the better good of the masses and the ecology. “At present around 55 billion plastic bags are being produced in the country as compared to 10 million bags in 1990 which is worrying,” he said.

He said the mass awareness campaign had been kicked off in the federal capital which would focus mass public awareness. It meant not only to shun the use of polythene bags rather a behavioural change in the society to avoid damaging the environment and ecosystem which was already facing threats due to climate change, he added.

“A student at Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University has developed a biodegradable plastic bag made of starch from mango seed which is appreciable and the ministry will take up such solutions to phase out polythene bags,” Amin Aslam said.

The adviser mentioned that 80 per cent of the urban flooding was caused because of plastic bags choking most of the sewers and drains. He added that we had also banned Oxo-biodegradable plastic bags which were more lethal then polythene.

It used to get reduced into tiny shreds after decomposition on exposure with the environment which then goes into the water resultantly consumed by the fish and aquatic life coming back into the food chain.

It had serious impacts on human health and environment, he said. Two months back we have received information from Gilgit-Baltistan authorities that a record snowfall during the past five years has been recorded.

This could lead to serious floods happening in the country where on this intimation we wrote letters to all chief secretaries to take pre-emptive measures to deal with any expected flood like situation, he said in a query to the occurrence of urban flooding incidents in Karachi and flood like situation in other vicinities.

The News

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He was chairing a meeting with the proposed new members of the commission, which is supposed to carry out revision of the Islamabad master plan. He said that revision of the master plan should be made in accordance with the present day needs. He said that increase in population and protection of green areas should be kept in view while revising the master plan.

The meeting noted that unauthorised constructions and unplanned growth of the city had been creating environmental and administrative issues.

Wants revision of master plan in line with present day needs

“In past, growth of population, unplanned growth of city and administrative issues remained neglected, which resulted in the mushroom growth of unplanned buildings and reduction of green areas,” according to an official handout issued by the PM office after the meeting.

The handout quoted the prime minister as saying that climate change and environment were major issues of the country, which needed attention of the government. The participants were told that steps were being taken to provide better housing facilities to the slum dwellers of Islamabad.

CDA Chairman Amer Ali Ahmed briefed the prime minister about the progress made by the commission so far.

A few days ago, the federal government had decided to extend deadline for the commission formed in December last for revising the master plan. The 12-member commission had prepared a 270-page report, which is currently being consolidated.

A few days ago, CDA and the ministry of interior in a summary had proposed changes in the commission, proposing deletion of four names of experts and addition of nine new names.

However, the federal cabinet in its last meeting did not decide fate of the said summary as the prime minister had decided that before giving approval to the summary he wanted to hold a meeting with the new members proposed for the commission.

The Friday’s meeting was held in line with the said decision of the premier. In the said summary, the CDA wanted that names of Syed Ayub Qutab, Javed Ali Khan, Jehangir Khan Sherpao and Abdul Haleem Paracha should be removed. It had also suggested addition of new members such as renowned architect Nayyar Ali Dada, Ali Asghar Khan, Aziz Aslam, Khurram Fareed Bargatt, Nayyab Hassan Gardazi (lawyer), environmentalist Humaira Qasim Khan, Asma Khalil, Naveed Aslam and Salman Mansoor.

The prime minister held the meeting with the newly-proposed members and now in the upcoming cabinet meeting a decision would be about them.

The commission, which was formed in December last year, was supposed to complete the task of first-ever revision of the master plan within six months by July 13 deadline. Sources said that the commission completed its report within deadline, highlighting the major issues. Meanwhile, it was decided that a consultant would be hired to complete the studies in the light of commission’s findings. However, the consultant is yet to be hired.

Dawn

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“The successful completion of the gigantic afforestation project earned us praise from a number of countries and international conservation bodies,” the minister told a presser here about the six-year efficiency of the environment department.

He also claimed that the plantation of one billion saplings also enhanced the country’s forest covered area by one per cent and that the afforestation programme had added 1,208 million trees to the province’s forests.

Minister attributes it to ‘successful completion’ of Billion Tree Tsunami project

The minister said the German government had pledged to provide €13.5 million for the forestry sector, while the federal and provincial governments would plant one billion additional saplings in the province under the 10 Billion Trees Afforestation Programme, 2018-23.

“Sixty per cent saplings will be planted in the merged tribal districts,” he said.

The minister said the Billion Trees Tsunami Project was completed at a cost of Rs14 billion against the estimated cost of Rs22 billion and thus, saving the provincial exchequer Rs8 billion.

He said the plantation of one billion saplings under the BTAP programme would cost Rs27 billion to be funded by the provincial and federal governments on 50:50 sharing basis.

Answering a query regarding huge difference in the cost of the Billion Trees Tsunami Project and 10-BTAP, the minister said the price escalation was one of the major reasons.

He said afforestation would be carried out at 16,994 hectares in the merged tribal districts under the 10-BTAP, while the department had established 1,632 enclosures across the province.

“Twenty-six million plants will be distributed among communities free of charge,” he said.

Mr Ishtiaq said the department had begun inquiry into the recent forest fires, while standard operating procedures had been framed to cope with such fires in future.

He said 60 people found involved in illegal cutting of trees had been arrested, while 141,000 kanals of forest land had been retrieved in Malakand, Hazara and Dera Ismail Khan divisions during the last five years.

“Effective measures have been adopted against timber mafia, which is evident from the fact that 19,968 cubic feet timber was seized in 2018-19,” he said.

Regarding achievements in the wildlife sector, the minister said the population of Markhor (wild goat) had reached 5,511, while the strength of ibex in northern parts of the province had touched the 3,876 mark.

“The population of wild animals increased mainly due to the conservation of habitats and involvement of local communities. The department generated $342,000 by auctioning four trophy hunting permits of Markhor.

The minister said three permits of trophy hunting of Ibex were auctioned to foreigners for $9,300, while two permits were sold to two locals for Rs250,000.

He said the wildlife department also issued 566 small game shooting permits in 2018-19 generating Rs1.698 million.

The minister said the department issued 6,389 small game shooting licences during the last financial years and earned Rs12.778 million.

He said the Pakistan Forest Institute had started mapping for the non-timber forest products (NTFP) in selected districts of the province.

“The Environmental Protection Agency has issued legal notices to 697 industrial units, while 761 notices had been submitted to the Environmental Tribunal,” he said.

Dawn

Improper dumping and disposal of wastes produce a serious environmental hazard called “leachate”. This is the fluid produced by the moisture content in the waste, leaching down all the characteristic qualities of the waste. The rain accelerates its generation, especially during the Monsoon season. Thanks to the mutual dumping of waste, leachate can be considered the king of wastewater as it has the highest quantities of toxicants, metals, hormonal disrupters, bacterial infections and all emerging pollutants. High composition of degradable waste is generated from municipal sector along with acids, surfactants and bleaches, while most of the polythene and paper waste is generated from the commercial sector. The industrial and hospital waste is most concerning. Industries, including the pharmaceutical, chemical, paint, plastic, textile, leather industry produce extremely toxic waste, whereas used syringes, blood bags, expired medicines, and other utensils of patients are thrown unattended at open waste dump sites.

Leachate is highly variable and heterogeneous. Generally, leachate produced in freshly-dumped waste is characterised by the presence of substantial amounts of volatile acids, as a result of the acid phase of fermentation. In mature dumping sites, the greater portion of organics in leachate are humic and fulvic compounds. The leachate contains organic hazardous substances such as aromatic compounds, chlorinated aliphatic compounds, phenols, phthalates and pesticides. However, biodegradable waste like organic matter including kitchen waste, dairy waste from dairy industries, sewage sludge, and breakdown starting with aerobic degradation, followed by anaerobic phase and ending up with the humic phase.

Introducing air to the waste tip encourages aerobic transformation of wastes which is expected to increase the degradation rate, enhance ammonium nitrogen removal and shorten the waste stabilization period. This suggestion is for newly designed landfills. However, the main problem with un-engineered landfill or dumping sites is that they have do not have geoliners to prevent the percolation of leachate in ground water aquifers, and resulting in contamination. It may also be released to nearby water bodies and causing potential hazards to the ecosystem and to human health.

The concentration of toxicants depends on the age of the dumping site and it metastasizes diseases. Metals and other toxicants in the leachate may transform physically and chemically, and can possibly be carcinogenic, while also causing impairments to the ecosystem. Unfortunately, there is barely any awareness about waste handling and dumping, and leachate generation in Pakistan as tons of waste is dumped on empty lands in residential or commercial zones. Waste management is very crucial for any society as its absence may lead to many problems including leachate generation and contamination. We are blindly running behind the cure for diseases without paying attention to the cause and source of the problem. Meanwhile, tackling this one problem can save many lives and reduce national health costs All of our hospital, commercial, and industrial waste should be checked and regulated by implementing the existing laws strictly, and the government should provide subsidized waste collection and healthy waste disposal with leachate collection and treatment facilities for the betterment of Pakistan’s health.

The Express Tribune