Sherry announces launch of Lyari River clean-up drive

Around 9,000 tonnes of waste and debris is thrown into the Lyari River every month by industries, municipal organisations and common people, and it has accumulated on the riverbed and in the Lyari harbour area, preventing rain and floodwater from flowing into the sea uninterrupted.

This shocking statistic was shared with Federal Climate Change Minister Senator Sherry Rehman at a roundtable on Wednesday in Karachi, where she announced the launch of a Lyari River clean-up drive in collaboration with public and private organisations.

Chairing a roundtable session, Senator Rehman stressed the need for adopting an all-inclusive holistic approach and coordination among all stakeholders to cope up with repercussions of climate change and saving natural ecosystem from hazardous impacts of pollution.

The session was attended by Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Syed Faisal Subzwari, Chairman Karachi Port Trust SM Tariq Huda, officers of relevant departments and organisations, representatives of the WWF-Pakistan, Unicef, multinational and national companies and public policy experts.

Senator Rehman said climate change was a global issue and individual efforts could not prove helpful, so all the relevant government departments and public organisations, international organisations, trade and industrial communities and all other stakeholders had to play a proactive role in a well-coordinated manner.

She said unprecedented rains and floods had affected one- third area of the country and millions of people and proved once again that Pakistan was the most vulnerable country to climate change.

The entire country received rains higher than the annual average, causing inundation of a vast area, she said and presented the example of the Pad Eidan town of the Naushehro Feroze district of Sindh where over 700mm rain was recorded in just one day.

The federal minister further said that National and Indus Highways, two main highways connecting the South to the northern parts of the country, were under water, while finding suitable places to set up tent cities for the displaced population in Sindh had become extremely difficult.

Monsoons were never like this as weather patterns had drastically changed and the monsoon that was considered a pleasant season in entire South Asia had become a symbol of disaster and destruction, she noted.

In Pakistan it was the third consecutive year when the mercury rose to record highs to place the country among the hottest places in the world, while the wildfires’ phenomenon had also taken place in the country, she observed, adding that all these calamities were the result of climate change.

“We cannot stop climate change but we can ensure efforts, which are long overdue on our part,” Senator Rehman said, adding that though there were certain issues of capacity and resources, every opportunity was important and the same must be utilised to improve the situation.

She appreciated efforts for cleaning up the Lyari River and said the rivers of Karachi were on ventilator and the Lyari River had become a drain, while local industries were dumping waste materials in rivers regardless of laws and rules, resulting in the destruction of rivers and marine ecosystem.

Detoxifying our rivers for maintaining bio-diversity was essential at the time though it might take many years to clean the rivers, she said and added that broad-based partnerships were expected to play a crucial role in ensuring solutions through the use of technology and innovation.

Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Faisal Subzwari said the Karachi Port Trust was building a sewerage treatment plant at an estimated cost of Rs8 billion to save the sea from pollution caused by industrial, municipal and biological waste.

He said that ministry of maritime affairs was aware of the serious implications of pollution for marine life and mangrove forests and it was committed to the cause of preservation of marine ecology.

He vowed to double the profitability of the KPT within a year time without hurting the delicate ecology of the Arabian Sea. Chairman KPT Tariq Huda said the Karachi port connects the national economy to the world and the water security issue was a national security issue and a solution to it must be neither denied nor delayed.

A report on environment issues of the Lyari River was also launched at the roundtable, which revealed that every month 9,000 tonnes of waste materials enter the river almost entirely uncleaned while the Lyari harbour area was choked by accumulated debris, leaving no space for the flow of floodwater.