Call for disaster preparedness-oriented policies

Islamabad: It is time for the country to develop disaster preparedness oriented policies, indigenous solutions for local problems, extensive research on environment rather focusing on futile endeavours, said environmentalist Zabardast Khan Bangash.

Addressing a seminar organised by the Human Resource Development Network and Brac Pakistan on 'climate change a global emerging issue and its implications for Pakistan', he said the biggest polluters of the world were the US and China as they contributed 23 per cent and 18 per cent to the total worldwide pollution respectively with a total of 45 per cent only by G8 nations.

He said Pakistan's share in global emissions was only 0.8 per cent.

"The earth has under gone blatant violations of the nature which ultimately resulted into serious repercussions jeopardizing human existence in the universe. Every living being and things associated with it including infrastructure and others are at stake in the contemporary degrading environmental regime," he said.

The environmentalist warned if the earth lost oxygen for five seconds, then all concrete buildings would turn into dust. He said the energy trapped by manmade global warming pollution was equivalent to exploding 400,000 Hiroshima atomic bomb per day 365 days per year.

Bangash said according to German fact finding of 2014, Pakistan is at number seven of Climate Risk Index, hence determining its ecological susceptibility. He called for strengthening the national institutions and key players for environment conservation.

"The government should sensitise farmers and people from other walks of life to the crucial impacts of climate change on the regional environment," he said.

Brac Pakistan representative Muhammad Saeed said climatic changes were not only affecting under developed countries rather developed one as well.

He said his NGO had signed 10 memorandums of understandings (MoUs) with various international NGOs and other INGOs for bilateral cooperation on initiatives to develop sustainable healthy environment in the region.

"We have planned to develop schools facilitating 25 million communities and would sensitize associated communities about global warming and climate change," he said.