Jahangir's World Times First Comprehensive Magazine for students/teachers of competitive exams and general readers as well.
The growing population of man on earth and unending human needs have adversely affected environmental balance, as a result of which, we are faced with serious environmental problems and challenges.
Green Economy is a wide-ranging term that encompasses buildings, fisheries, forests, transport, water, agriculture, energy supply, tourism, wastes, manufacturing and industries. All these sectors are directly related to environment. This relation may be in the form of the impacts of environmental degradation on these sectors, or in the form of their own role in environmental disorder. All these sectors must be environment-friendly to avoid both these situations. It can be done to a certain extent by means of Environmental Impact Assessment System. But in Pakistan, EIA system has not yet become so effective. It can be judged from the following facts and figures.
In 2008, 111 EIA reports, regarding various projects in Pakistan, were submitted to environment protection agencies, whereas in 2000, only 6 such reports were compiled. In nine years, a total of 347 EIA reports were submitted to environment protection agencies. It is a matter of great concern that no EIA reports were prepared on several projects in the public as well as private sector in Pakistan. The annual economic cost paid by Pakistan for the destruction of natural resources owing to environmental problems is around 365 billion rupees, which makes up 6 % of the country’s total GDP.
According to Pakistan’s Strategic Environmental Assessment report, issued by the World Bank in 2006, the maximum economic price paid by Pakistan is related to inadequate water supply, sanitation and hygiene, which results in an annual economic loss of 112 billion rupees for the country.
According to the UNDP’s Human Development Report released in 2011, there was 29.8 % decrease in the forest area of Pakistan from 1990 to 2008. Till 2008, only 2.3 % of Pakistan’s total area consisted of forests, whereas experts are of the view that 20 to 25 % of a country’s total area must consist of forests, in order to maintain its environmental balance. The rapidly decreasing forest area in Pakistan is significantly reducing the country’s ability to absorb carbon dioxide.
Wikipedia has compiled a global ranking of countries with reference to the emission of carbon dioxide, in the light of the statistics available till 2008. Pakistan stands at #31 in this global ranking. According to the Economic Survey of Pakistan 2011, in 2008, the amount of Pakistan’s emission of Greenhouse gases was 309 million tons, which included 54 % carbon dioxide, 36 % methane, 9 % nitrous oxide and 1 % other gases. Most of the greenhouse gases (50.7 %) were emitted by the energy sector. In this way, with reference to the per capita emission of greenhouse gases, Pakistan stands at #135 among the countries of the world.
However, in view of the ever increasing energy demands of the country, the thermal and coal reserves in the country will also have to be utilized. It will further increase the country’s emission of greenhouse gases.
According to the Economic Survey of Pakistan, there was 21.88 % increase in the country’s population during 2009-10. 35.51 % of the conventional sources of energy (fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal) were used in the production of electricity. There was 53.02 % increase in the use of electricity in Pakistan from the year 2000-01 to 2009-10. During the same period, the use of petroleum, gas and coal increased by 8.40 %, 66.36 % and 101.21 % respectively.
Environmental experts are of the view that air pollution in Pakistan is directly related to the increase in the use of the conventional sources of energy (fossil fuels), because our atmosphere is being polluted by the small particles present in the smoke, emitted by the use of the conventional sources of energy. Research has proved the fact that the high concentration of suspended particulates in the atmosphere produces damaging impacts for human health. They become the cause of the diseases of lungs, heart and respiration. The most dangerous for human health are the ten microns and those which are even smaller in diameter. Each year, they become the cause of half a million deaths and 415 million new asthma cases. According to Pakistan Strategic Environmental Assessment Report issued by the World Bank, each year in the urban areas of Pakistan, air pollution becomes the cause of the death of 22000 adults and 700 children below the age of five years. It is also the cause of 4.9 million cases of less serious respiratory problems among children.
In the urban areas of Pakistan, these highly dangerous small particulates spread in the atmosphere not only through natural factors, but also through the conventional sources of energy or fossil fuels used in factories, power plants and motor vehicles. The intensity of this problem is further increasing due to the extensive use of a large number of old and mechanically flawed motor vehicles. The fuel efficiency level of these vehicles is very low.
Lack of public transport in the urban areas of Pakistan is a major cause of air pollution. According to the Economic Survey of Pakistan, there are 123300 public transport buses in the country. It is only 1.24 % of all the on-road motor vehicles in the country, whereas the number of private motor vehicles (motor cars, jeeps, motor cycles and scooters) in the country is 7877460. It is 79.84 % of all types of motor vehicles.
Diesel operated motor vehicles, two-stroke motor vehicles such as motor bikes, scooters and rickshaws are also the major causes of air pollution in our country. The diesel used in Pakistan has a much higher proportion of sulphur than all other countries of the region, and the two-stroke motor vehicles do not properly burn the fuel, as a result of which there is a greater concentration of suspended particulates in the atmosphere. Currently, there are 5501160 on-road motor cycles, scooters and rickshaws in the country. They make up 55.75 % of all the on-road motor vehicles in the country. 17.22 % on-road motor vehicles such as jeeps, station wagons, buses, delivery vans, trucks, ambulances, oil tankers and water tankers are run on diesel in the country.
Another important cause of air pollution in our country is the use of charcoal in our homes for sanitation. Its ratio in cities is 18 % while in villages, it is 89 %. 63 % of our people live in villages and the smoke produced by the combustion of fuels used for cooking, is not properly expelled from homes. It has bad impacts on the health of women, children and old people, who mostly live in homes.
In addition to air pollution, water pollution has also become a very serious problem. The water which is used in factories is discharged and then, released in the water reserves on the land without any treatment. It becomes a major cause of water pollution in the country. According to the Economic Survey of Pakistan 2009-10, 9000 million gallons of industrial waste water are discharged each year into the water bodies of Punjab and Karachi. The availability of clean drinking water is a major problem faced by the cities as well as villages. 90 % of our people are using improved drinking water sources and according to ‘The State of World Children 2012) report published by the UNICEF, this ratio is 95 % in cities and 87 % in villages. But the quality of drinking water is an important question.
In addition to the problems caused by the environmental degradation in our country, global environmental factors are also becoming a matter of grave concern for us. The reason is that environment is not confined to borders and the environment-hostile attitude of one country may cause serious environmental problems for some other country. As a result of this phenomenon, developing countries have to bear the environmental brunt of the industrial progress made by the developed countries of the world. Like other developing countries of the world, Pakistan is also included in the list of high risk countries, with reference to the global climatic changes. According to the 2009-10 index of the Climate Change Vulnerability, prepared by an institute named Maplecroft, Pakistan stands at #29 in the global ranking of the countries with reference to the effects of climatic changes. Water, food security and coastal areas deserve maximum attention in connection with climatic changes. Global climatic changes can bring about several problems and dangers for Pakistan, such as increase in temperature, floods, droughts, cyclones, biodiversity in forests and several human diseases.
Pakistan has already experienced extreme climate events, resulting from increase in global temperatures. In this connection, we can quote the examples of the drought lasting from 1998 to 2001, and the floods of 2003, 2006, 2010 and 2011, which produced devastating impacts for the life and property of the people living in several regions of the country.
In spite of that, Pakistan has lagged far behind other countries of the world in terms of steps being taken for the improvement of environmental conditions. The Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy has prepared an Environmental Performance Index 2012, in the light of its 22 indicators related to the improvement in environment. According to this index, Pakistan stands at #120 in the list of 132 countries whose statistics are available. The ranking of other South Asian countries in this index is as follows: India 125, Bangladesh 115, Sri Lanka 55 and Nepal 38.
The deplorable condition of environment in Pakistan is the outcome of our past negligence and carelessness in this field. Now that the ministry of environment has been transferred from the centre to the provinces, it may be hoped that in the times to come, we would be able to witness some tangible improvement in our country’s environment.
