Steps demanded to combat climate change

Lahore : The Pakistan Economy Watch (PEW) on Sunday demanded serious steps to combat threat of climate change which is poised to damage economy and hurt millions of people.

Climate change has become a great threat but concerned authorities seems not keen about it, said Dr. Murtaza Mughal, President PEW.

He said that climate change is to inflict more harm than any other problem but it is not a priority for the government which is busy in spending hefty amount on symbolic projects, he said.

Dr. Murtaza Mughal said that floods inflicting losses of trillions of rupees and leaving many homeless, melting glaciers, reducing water table, ill-timed rains and drought in some parts of the country is linked to climate change.

He said that Karachi contributing almost 65 percent in taxes will be worst hit by climate change in absence of a proper strategy.

A severe heatwave that killed 1200 people in Karachi was result of climate change and now city is facing threat from the intruding sea which can hit millions of people.

He said that mangrove forests, the first line of defence against soil erosion and tsunami have been reduced from four hundred thousand hectares to seventy thousand hectares while hundreds of acres of forests have been wiped to pave way for construction of two power plants.