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Seminar
on Rio+10 & 10 Years of Green Press
Media drive needed to create awareness about environmental hazards ISLAMABAD: An extensive media campaign is required to create awareness
on environmental hazards, adversely affecting the flora and fauna globally,
specially in the developing countries. This was the "Reporting on environmental issues is limited to seminars and
workshops He said environment threat in Pakistan was a non-issue till the Rio He cited the incident of a bus which fell into the Lyari River In He said since media managers of both print and electronic depend on He said it was after the collapse of the Soviet Union and with the The President of Green Press Masroor Gillani said despite the fact
that He said the government could not implement different agendas which
it Commenting on the Environment Act 1997, he said it had not been Fayyaz Baqir, a participant, said in most of the countries, reports
on Speaking on environmental communication in Pakistan, Zafarullah Khan, "Development of an effective communication strategy is of utmost In the concluding session it was observed that in the upcoming political The seminar was to be inaugurated by the federal minister for APP adds: Tauqir Sheikh said during the past 10 years many new He noted that the government had committed Rs110 billion over a period National Coordinator of UNDP's Global Environment Facility (LIFE-GEF)
programme in Pakistan Fayyaz Baqir suggested that Green Press should
hold an All Parties Conference on Environment so that political parties
are able to reflect their commitments towards environment protection.Jami
Chandio, a senior Sindhi journalist, called for capacity building of
media personnel so that they are able to write better stories on
Lukewarm green campaign By Zofeen T. Ebrahim
To a large extent, the media is to be blamed for the complete apathy the masses have for our degrading environment. In the process of highlighting issues of national importance with respect to the political climate, it has completely ignored to educate people on the human environment front. Independent experts say that environmental degradation has taken an alarming shape mainly because of years of official failure to place environmental concerns at the centre of all policy-making. However, things seem to be looking up since the 1990s. Words like sustainable development, ozone depletion, greenhouse effect, global warming etc, have found their way in. A lukewarm green campaign did make a dim presence by the government, but since it got caught up in the bureaucratic corridors, the actual message of awareness-raising never reached the people. The same year a group of concerned journalists formed an association called the Green Press that was formally launched in 1992, on the World Environment Day. They have tried relentlessly for the rightful space for environment issues. They still have a long way to go because environment is not an independent phenomenon, but a complex mix that includes population studies and demography, economics, geography on the one hand and meteorology, oceanography, agriculture, irrigation, forestation, chemistry, governance and international politics etc on the other. It first made its presence felt when its field investigation team came up with the shocking news of the hazardous substances emitted by pollutant factories in the Industrial Area of Islamabad. The news was caught on by the media that resulted in a resident taking the Industrial Area to task through a public interest litigation in the Supreme Court of Pakistan. The apex court in 1998 directed the Capital Development Authority to either change the trade of these pollutant industries or shift them away from residential area.Among its more recent successes is the campaign against the holding of a falcon festival in 1999. It did not let the government hold an international festival of the falcons, as Pakistan is a signatory to the international conventions which prohibit trade, trafficking and illegal hunting of endangered species. Last June, it made giant strides in disseminating information by going on the information highway. It launched its website and environmental web radio which received government patronage. The Green Radio is an innovative approach to disseminate information without bothering for a license. Its website is simple and neat, yet lacks visual appeal. The Green Wire section carries news pieces from around the world as well as from within the country. Media Watch is another section that is perhaps their most ground-breaking work to date. It monitors press freedom violations since 1995. It has published a series of five report which are made public every year on May 3, to mark the World Press Freedom Day. Desalination plants for Karachi demanded KARACHI, Jan 30: A symposium on "Marine Environment - Food, Health and Habitat" concluded here on Wednesday, recommending to stop use of small mesh nets in the creek areas and educate the fishermen about the adverse affects of using such nets. The two-day symposium at The British Council was held under the higher About 35 scientists, researchers, environmental activists and government A Scottish researcher, Dr Raymond Leakey, who summed up the proceedings of the symposium, remarked that the forum proved an active and diverse research base. He said the Pakistani scientists had got great potentials to address the marine environmental issues. The symposium recommended that desalination plants should be established in Karachi coastal area. Mangrove plantation should be undertaken on the Sindh coast to stop soil erosion. It was further urged that boats must be registered by the local government. The symposium also demanded for alternative source of income for the fishermen. Govt, NGOs oblivious of rising pollution PESHAWAR, Jan 29: Increasing air pollution in the Peshawar city is adversely affecting the lifestyle of people as more and more people are complaining to have contracted respiratory and hearing problems. Yet the residents tend to put up with the frequent traffic jams, one of the primary causes of environmental degradation. The exhaust fumes produced during the traffic jams at almost every square and intersection of the city are as much harmful to the health of people as other toxic substances. The lead and carbon inhaled by the residents during the frequent traffic jams have bad impacts on the life of all walks of people, a foreign environmental journalist said, quoting the findings of a recent study concluded in the city. To ease up the rush of vehicles on the city roads, the provincial government has embarked on widening some roads. But, the problem has been worsened by the insufficient infrastructure to cope with the traffic rush. The widening of Khyber Road and constructing a few intersections in
the city would not solve the problem, unless the government and the
people make joint and concerted efforts to arrest air pollution, observed
local NGOs officials, working for preserving the environment for the
future Maybe the locals have developed immunity for the hazardous exhaust fumes, but any stranger to these parts of the world would be taken seriously ill if he inhales this much amount of lead suspended in the atmosphere, remarked a foreign journalist, who said he was extremely surprised by the inaction of government agencies and insensitivity of the print and electronic media people to this serious problem. WAPDA to prepare national plan for drainage HYDERABAD: The Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) will prepare a master drainage plan for whole of the country in six months. A decision to this effect has been taken in the light of recommendation made by a high-powered committee on National Drainage Programme (NDP), headed by Federal Minister for food and Agriculture Khair Muhammad Junejo. The committee had been formed by the chief executive some time back. Talking to The News the other day, the federal minister for food and Dismissing all misgivings to this effect, Junejo said that Wapda had
been The minister said that the committee, headed by him, had reduced the size of the NDP from Rs 25 billion to Rs 19.5 billion, by dropping unnecessary studies and consultations. However, he said that the committee had recommended to conduct three major studies, including the one aimed at determining the quantum of water needed to be released downstream Kotri in order to maintain environmental balance in the delta. The irrigation experts of Sindh, while commenting on the reports that
the Besides, these circles have urged the government that the master plan should be prepared in a way that all the upcountry provinces are required to treat their drain water before its passing on to Sindh for being left in the sea, otherwise not only the environment but the soil of Sindh would also be ruined completely. They opined that even if the water was treated properly by the three provinces, enough damage was bound to be caused to Sindh as millions of tons of poisonous substance would pass through Sindh. As such, they proposed that enough compensation for the province and the affectees should be recommended. They said that a proper formula needed to be enacted in this regard before the execution of the said project. Turtle conservation project without
lab KARACHI, Jan 28: Though the marine turtle conservation project of the Sindh Wildlife Department (SWD) has been performing the task of protecting the marine turtles for the past 22 years, it has not yet obtained land for establishing a laboratory at the Hawkesbay due to non-cooperation of the city government's land department. The authorities continue to ignore the importance of a laboratory and study centre for the marine turtles at the Hawkesbay which will not only support the ongoing project, but will also promote local and international tourism in the city, as Sandspit and Hawkesbay are among the eleven major nesting beaches in the world for Green and Ridley - Olive turtles. Though, efforts are being made by the Programme for Economic Revival of Karachi under the provincial and city governments to harness the resources at the beaches of Karachi, but the potentials of eco-tourism have never been taken seriously which have proved its commercial value in a number of developing countries like Nepal and Thailand. The SWD had started its initiatives in 1991 by requesting the defunct KMC for grant of a plot No. 88 at the Hawkesbay to establish a laboratory and a study centre. Despite repeated efforts, the matter is lying at the revenue department of the city government. With the development of environment-friendly resorts and rest houses
at Punjab villages the most unhygienic
of all provinces LAHORE, Jan 28: Sanitation situation is the worst in the Punjab villages It said 39 percent of the rural households in Balochistan have toilets.
The The UNICEF had started efforts to improve rural sanitation in some selected districts of the Punjab in 1983 in collaboration with the Local Government and Rural Development Department. Subsidy was also offered for the construction of toilets for demonstration purpose. The strategy was, however, changed later as it was seen to be creating a dependence as villagers waited for subsidy instead of building toilets on their own. Since 1999, the UNICEF has adopted a 'communication approach' to encourage the construction of toilets, observing a sanitation week in the year 2000 in all 34 districts of the Punjab. As a result, 6 percent of the households were reported to have constructed 250,000 toilets in just one year.
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