Karachi Mayor Barrister Murtaza Wahab spoke on the issue of climate change on Sunday as he addressed the Pavilion Mayors Conference in Dubai.
He told the conference that the world needed to work together to support the countries affected by climate change. He said Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari accepted the challenge of the reconstruction of 2.1 million houses destroyed during the 2022 floods in Sindh and took necessary steps to rehabilitate the affected persons as soon as possible.
The conference aims at providing an opportunity to mayors from different cities around the world to share their experiences and make suggestions regarding climatechange. Wahab shed light on the problems of Sindh, especially Karachi, their possible solutions and the resources required for that. He said all possible steps were being taken to provide basic facilities to the citizens in their daily life, and the road network in industrial zones and commercial centres was being improved to promote economic activities.
“Karachi can establish solar and wind farms with financial cooperation that provide affordable and clean energy to people,” he said.
He said that due to the increasing population, the problems of Karachi continued to increase due to which it was necessary to develop the basic infrastructure of the city, improving the roads and highways as well as modernising its water supply and drainage systems. Efforts were being made to provide maximum facilities to the citizens through the construction and expansion of storm drains, parks and playgrounds, the mayor added.
Wahab highlighted the situation faced by the people of Karachi during the floods of 2022 and the heat wave of 2015. He said many major cities of the world had been facing natural disasters due to climate change. He added that owing to the increase in temperature, heat waves were frequently happening, and it was high time a strong strategy was formed to deal with these challenges at the global level.
The mayor said efforts were being made to tackle the climate challenge through plantation drives in Karachi and the creation of artificial forests to green up as many parts of the city as possible. He explained that the aim of these measures was to combat the conditions caused by climate change and improve the city's weather conditions. He stressed the need for adopting a joint strategy to fight climate change.