 |
| |
WEEKLY
SECTIONS |
 |
|
 |
| Keenjhar Lake faces environmental degradation |
|
|
|
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
By Ali Raza
LAHORE: Situated at a distance of some 113 km from Karachi and about 20 km from Thatta, Keenjhar Lake, a freshwater lake, having an area of about 145 km, is facing serious environmental degradation.
A visit to the lake with a team of journalists and experts of the WWF-Pakistan some days back revealed that local people are engaged in deforestation and logging activities. The process is leading towards the habitat destruction while pollutants from various sources, including pesticides from agricultural lands and effluents from different industries, pose serious threats to the precious freshwater turtles of the lake. The lake, being a tourist spot, is triggering the situation through water contamination.
With a maximum depth of eight meters, the Keenjhar Lake is located in a stony desert, composed of alternating layers of limestone and sandstone. Historically, it is formed by the union of two lakes — Sonehri and Keenjhar — through the construction of an embankment on their eastern side in 1950s. These two lakes came into being when the River Indus changed its course, cutting off these lakes.
Before the construction of the embankment, the lakes were fed by about a dozen hill torrents on the western side. Later it started getting most of its water from the Indus River through the Kalri Baghar Canal, originating from Kotri Barrage. Several small seasonal streams also fed this lake. The only outlet is through the Jam Branch Canal at the southeast corner of the lake.
The Keenjhar Lake is also known as the largest freshwater lake of the country. The locals, residing around the lake, are using water for their daily consumption while the lake is also the main source of water supply to Karachi and parts of the Thatta district.
The lake was declared a wildlife sanctuary in 1977 under the Sindh Wildlife Protection Ordinance, 1972. The sanctuary has a buffer zone of five kilometres. It has also been designated as Ramsar site in 1976. The lake has a rich flora of submerged, floating and emergent aquatic plants such as Potamogeton spp, Najas minor, Nelumbo nucifera, Nymphaea spp, Cyperus spp, Phragmites spp, Typha spp etc. They provide both food and shelter to fauna species. Many birds reside in the thick growth of Typha and Phragmites. The land around the lake has a rich diversity of semi-aquatic to dry land plant species.
The Keenjhar Lake is an important breeding and wintering area for a wide variety of terrestrial and migratory birds. Breeding birds include night-heron, cotton teal, pheasant tailed jacana, purple moorhen and some passerines. Cotton teal has disappeared in the recent years and has not been seen on the lake for a few years. Mammals include jackals, fox, porcupine, mongoose and small rodents. Pangolin has also been seen. Among reptiles, snakes like cobra and saw-scaled viper are common. Monitor lizards and spiny-tailed lizards are also found here.
About 50,000 people are dependent on this fresh water lake and a total of 800 fishing crafts are operating in the area. The fishermen have their own fishing territories.
The lake is facing heavy pollution due to pesticides, which are widely used in the nearby cultivated areas. People have livestock, especially buffaloes, goats and cows, and they graze them in the buffer zone and around the lake.
Due to the decline in fisheries, some people are also involved in the mining of stones from the nearby stony hills. Some communities are also earning income from the local tourists coming from Karachi, Hyderabad and Thatta for recreational purpose. They have speedboats and they usually charge Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,500 per day based on the time and trip. The boats do not have any safety gears, therefore, lots of accidents have occurred. People also grow rice, sugarcane, maize and vegetables in the buffer zone and adjacent areas of the lake.
It is pertinent to mention here that scores of hunters, particularly during the winter season, visit the lake to shoot migratory birds. This poses a serious threat to the wild animals around Keenjhar. Similarly, wild boar hunting with dogs and guns also disturbs the existing wildlife in the area.
In some areas of the Indus Eco-region, Indian otter is considered a blessing among the poor fishermen. The otter helps in catching fish in the nets. Due to this role, some fishermen keep tamed otters but now these are extinct in Keenjhar. The major threat to Indian otter is trapping and poaching for its skin. Secondly, the fish farmers kill the animal and get the dual benefit by selling its skin. The WWF-Pakistan has demanded the Government of Sindh check the animalís hunting so that it could survive in Keenjhar.
The lake is facing the scarcity of freshwater over years due to which the population of freshwater turtles is adversely affected, thus the natural balance of aquatic ecosystem is disturbed. Local people are heavily engaged in deforestation and logging activities. This is leading towards the habitat destruction for the associated fauna.
Use of the lake as a tourist spot is another source of pollution for its water. More than 15,000 people from Karachi visit the lake weekly.
|
|
|
| Back
| Send
this story to Friend | Print
Version |
|
|
|
ISSN 1563-9479 
