World Wetlands Day: Coastal community vows to protect wetlands from climate change

KARACHI: Plant saplings were planted in the coastal areas of Sindh, including its capital Karachi, to mark World Wetlands Day that was observed around the world on Saturday.

Awareness activities were also held at schools and community halls in the coastal towns and villages throughout the province. This year’s theme, ‘Wetlands and Climate Change’, aimed at making people, especially youngsters, aware of the effects of climate change on wetlands and coastal communities.

Different organisations, including the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and other non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and community-based organisations (CBOs) organised different events.

These events included awareness activities, seminars, talks and walks, in which the fisherfolk community and their leaders, as well as teachers and students of the coastal community schools participated in large numbers. They also planted hundreds of saplings of different tree species and vowed to protect wetlands from the negative impacts of climate change.

IUCN Pakistan celebrated World Wetlands Day with the coastal communities along the Karachi coast in the adjoining areas of Port Qasim. Tahir Qureshi, IUCN’s senior adviser on coastal ecosystems, briefed the participants of the event on the benefits of wetlands.

He also highlighted the importance of mangroves as a food security providing sources of subsistence and livelihoods for the most vulnerable communities as well as cultural practices and identity.

Qureshi said IUCN has previously collaborated with Engro Energy to plant 500 hectares of mangroves near the company’s LNG plant at Port Qasim. He said that companies like the Engro Foundation are playing active roles in fulfilling their corporate social responsibilities.

The current partnership with the Engro Foundation takes this initiative further. The second two-year project with IUCN aims to involve local communities in the conservation and sustainable management of Pakistan’s precious mangrove forests by highlighting their direct link with fish yield.

Citing examples of previous projects, he observed that IUCN’s extensive work along the Sindh coast over the years has helped in preserving neglected ecosystems and native biodiversity, and enhancing coastal sustainability.

“IUCN Pakistan has been working in the Port Qasim area since 1987, focusing on the rehabilitation of degraded mangrove forests through the development of innovative planting and nursery techniques, and the organisation has collaborated with a number of partners, notably the Sindh Forest Department, and some prominent NGOs and CBOs in the area.”

In his message on the occasion of World Wetlands Day, Mahmood Akhtar Cheema, country representative of IUCN Pakistan, said that there is an urgent need to adopt policies and effectively implement action plans that can help in conserving wetlands.

He reiterated the role of IUCN Pakistan in helping the government formulate the National Wetlands Policy & Action Plan in 2011. IUCN has also played an active role in the designation of eight new Ramsar sites in Pakistan as well as guidelines for the artificial releases from reservoirs to maintain the downstream wetland ecosystem and dependent livelihoods.

In 1997 it conducted the environmental assessment of the Haleji Lake. Cheema further said that climate change has impacted our wetlands, so there is reduction in migratory birds as they do not find friendly habitats.

He said that flood management can play a very effective role in revitalising these neglected wetlands. He stressed on exploring the possibilities of funding from the private sector.

Keeping in view the impact of climate change on wetlands, the resources can also be mobilised through Green Climate Fund for the management of wetlands and the protection of the livelihoods of the people living in the spheres of these wetlands.

He appreciated the newly formed water pond close to village Gorrano in the Thar Coal Operational Area. The ecological uplifting of this artificially created wetland is going to attract more water birds, particularly the wintering migratory waterfowl.

This water pond was artificially created with the construction of two earth bunds on 834 acres of interdunal land on both sides. Pumping of subsoil water from a coal mine into the pond was started in April 2017. It is a unique wetland of deep subsoil saline water pumped out in a desert in Pakistan.

He also admired the project by the Pakistan Navy to implement the medium grant project demonstration of wastewater treatment for the reduction of coastal water contamination from Manora Island, funded by the Mangroves for the Future Programme.

The project has established a constructed wetland system for biological wastewater treatment using aquatic reed plants, and has the capacity to treat 30,000 gallons of wastewater a day.

Laboratory analysis has revealed a significant improvement in the quality of the treated wastewater. The Pakistan Navy has replicated the model at its other units within Karachi.

Presently, and in the recent past, IUCN Pakistan has completed various projects with different donors and private sector partners for the plantation and restoration of mangroves in the vicinity of Karachi.

This mangroves forest is a great source of oxygen for the millions of inhabitants of Karachi that needs to be preserved and protected at any cost.

Dr Babar Hussain, natural resource management coordinator of the Sea Intrusion project, also spoke on the occasion, encouraging the youth to plant and protect this precious source of oxygen and sanctuaries of fish, shrimps and crabs.

EXTRACT: The youth were encouraged to plant and protect mangrove forests, precious sources of oxygen, and sanctuaries of fish, shrimps and crabs.