Clean competition

Prime Minister Imran Khan had stressed his concern about the environment and climate change before coming into power. In this context his initiatives announced in Islamabad on Monday about creating the Clean, Green Pakistan Index by setting up a competition between 19 cities is an innovative one. The cities – including Lahore, Gujranwala, Rawalpindi, Sargodha, Faisalabad and others – will be ranked on the index according to their ability to offer people safe water, solid waste management, city beautification, cleanliness and the maintenance of parks and greenery. PM Imran Khan is also correct when he voices concern about the 70 percent tree cover lost in Lahore as it was turned into an urban jungle with pollution levels rising drastically as a consequence. The call for young people to get involved in the schemes is also a good one. We know that the younger generation is more deeply concerned about the environment, and its own future, while the competition-like model of the scheme also promises to create interest.

While we would like to see the initiative succeed, we wonder from where resources will be raised for the cities to launch their efforts. The federal and provincial governments are strapped of cash and this is one of the key issues holding back sanitation and city improvement. There is also a need to create awareness that bridges, underpasses and wider roads can sometimes destroy the natural beauty of a city such as Lahore rather than adding to it. The use of local trees rather than expensive imported varieties which often fail to survive and a restriction on cutting down trees is also required in all major cities.

Creating environmental havens is not easy. The PTI has struggled to achieve this in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and its promised tsunami of tree plantation has not gone very far. Plastic bags are still widely in use despite the ban and a harsh fact is that through the years we have poisoned almost all of our major water resources leaving less and less safe water for people to drink. Therefore, a competition or index rating cities may not be enough. We also need major policies put in place to change realities at the mega level. Only if this can happen is there any hope of cleaning up our cities or creating a more conducive environment for people to live in. These are matters governments need to take up at the highest possible level. Citizens and local administrations cannot succeed on their own. The need for improved cities certainly exists. Innovative ideas are needed as well. But they must be ideas which can succeed and create genuine change in the future.