In a world of higher electricity demand growth, clean electricity is stepping up to the challenge. Spearheaded by exponential solar expansion, clean power is set to grow faster than demand, marking the start of a permanent decline in fossil generation. 2024 both clarified and consolidated the shape of the global …
Juniper forests in Pakistan are likely to get an added lease of life. The Pakistan Environment Protection Council (PEPC) has launched a Rs 15 million pilot project to protect the world's second largest juniper forest in the Ziarat valley of Balochistan. The major facets of the programme are proper techniques …
THE Pakistan government has ambitious plans to tap coal reserves under the vast expanses of the Thar desert, but environmentalists warn that unfettered development could do more.harm. than good. In its enthusiasm to capitalise on the interest shown by foreign investors in cheaply a'v:ilable coal, the government is completely ignoring …
A new dam intended to solve a water crisis has, paradoxically, created new problems for the people of Gwadar in Pakistan. Environmentalists fear that in the absence of a proper drainage sys- tem, the increased water supply,will devastate Gwadar's beautiful sandy beaches. "It is necessary to develop a proper drainage-system …
The recent shooting of a 12-year-old carpetweaver in Pakistan has been attributed to child labour racketeers. "We know his death was a conspiracy by the carpet mafia," maintains Ehsan Ullah Khan, chairperson of the Bonded Labour Liberation Front. Young Iqbal Masih had recently become a crusader against child labour. Last …
IQBAL Masih's assassination cannot be condoned. His crime: he dared to speak out against child labour. The 12-year-old boy was riddled with bullets on April 16, Easter Sunday, while cycling through his village near Lahore in Pakistan. Born into the fate of millions of children around the world, especially South …
The 120 tanneries in and around Sialkot, Pakistan, offload an estimated 1. 1 million I polluted water daily. A bulk of it flows into seasos lahs, water courses and agricultural land. Medical experts believe that the one way out an tannery-owners and other industrial units to launch an intensive anti-pollution …
Factories in Pakistan's Faisalabad city are spewing one hazardous pollutants, while the water and garbage disposal systems seem to have virtually bid goodbye. Rapid industrialisation has spiralled the number of local industries from 4,533 in 1977 to 34,123 at present. These include environment-unfriendly agricultural implement manufacturing units, soap factories, fertiliser …
Pakistan's Kalabagh dam project has stirred up a hornet's nest. To counter hostile critics in the North West Frontier Province and Sindh, a new strategy, chalked out on the World Bank's guidelines, has been adopted. The gameplan is to use the success of the Ghazi Barotha dam as a springboard …
Pakistani environmentalists in Islamabad are seeing red as the Capital Development Authority (CDA) recklessly strips away tree and vegetation cover. The reason for the ruthless deforestation: the prevalence of respiratory diseases triggered off by an exotic plant in Islamabad. Experts, however, don't buy this explanation. They point out the CDA …
Pakistan is in for a major environmental clean-up. Nudged by a directive from the Federal government, provincial governments have launched several innovative schemes to fight pollution. The Punjab government has generously earmarked Rs 1.35 crore for various environmental projects, and Rs 61 lakh for the Environmental Protection Agency to execute …
Sugar mills in Sindh, Pakistan, are now biting a bitter pie. About 27 mills have been labelled environmentally hazardous by the Sindh Environmental Control Agency. They did not install a "showering system" to neutralise the damaging effects of the waste particles. Liquid affluents from the mills are also poisoning fish …
Toxic waste is wreaking environmental havoc in Karachi. A technical survey by the Scope Environmental Management Research and Information Centre reports that Karachi's 1,900 industrial units and 200 hospitals churn out nearly 75 tonnes of solid hazardous industrial waste a day. The absence of environmental regulations, proper waste treatment facilities, …
Friday namaz congregations in Pakistan may never be the same again. Alarmed by the rising incidence of AIDS, plans are afoot to have religious leaders deliver sermons on the disease. The government is already preparing a text on AIDS for the devotees. Although official sources claim that the programme has …
Pakistan's fishing industry is in the doldrums following arrest orders for illegal migrants. The Karachi Fishing Boat and Trawlers Owners Group (KFBTOG) warns that unless the crackdown on Bengali migrant workers ceases, there could be severe repercussions on the fishing industry. Normally, annual foreign exchange worth Rs 5 billion is …
Pakistani medicos are unhappy about the use of the drug Parlodel, banned in the US and Canada. The doctors say that the drug's common side effects -- low blood pressure, excessive vomiting, severe headache and nausea -- warrant its withdrawal from the market. Palodel, which reduces post-natal lactation, has a …
Pakistan's Supreme Court has upheld an environmental rights case against the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA). The ruling makes it imperative for WAPDA to study the latest findings on health hazards like the impact of magnetic fields on humans, before constructing power stations. The court can even halt the …
The proposed Arun III dam in Nepal has come under fire. The World Bank's newly established investigation panel, which deals with complaints from people adversely affected by the Bank's projects, has received a formal complaint -- its first -- on the dam. A group of NGOs in Nepal charge the …
Once home to a rich variety of migratory birds from Russia, Siberia and Central Asia, Gamaghar Lake near Lahore, Pakistan, has been driven to the verge of extinction by an ill-planned irrigation system. Inadequate drainage systems had led to high levels of waterlogging and salinity in nearby agricultural areas. To …
Manchar, Asia's largest fresh water lake, is heading towards doom. Salinity levels in the lake, situated in Pakistan's Dadu district, have risen dangerously as saline water from the Salinity Control and Reclamation Project area continues to be drained into the lake. As a result, fish catches have declined sharply from …
