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Give Earth a Chance! By Adil Zareef
Give earth a chance...
Get ready for a doomsday scenario. Planet Earth is warming up faster than previously expected. A 2001 UN report on climate change has forecast that global temperatures would rise two to five degrees Celsius by the end of this century. “It looks it will be warmer by the end of the century than what we had previously predicted” says an expert on global warming. Warmer weather will generate more droughts, floods and rising sea levels which it is feared, will create millions of “environmental refugees” from drowning island nations and possible wars over increasingly scarce fresh water.

“Dying forests, expanding deserts and rising sea levels would wreak havoc to human and animal lives sooner than anticipated as global warming was accelerating”, said Geoff Jenkins, head of the Hadley Center for Climate Prediction and Research. Economies are also likely to take a blow, as farming, fishing and business will be affected by this freak change in climate.

Deteriorating environmental conditions affect everyone. For some, the ungainly sight and smell of polluted rivers and streams with poisoned aquatic life, the rotting heaps of garbage, are distasteful reminders of neglected investment in environmental protection.  But for millions of people in the Third World cities and villages, suffering from extreme poverty and squalor, environmental degradation is a matter of life and death. 

Quality of life has been severely affected by crippling disease and squalid living conditions. Women and children are the prime victims of this deprivation as infant mortality and maternal deaths keep rising. Industrial “progress” has multiplied the risk of poisoning, accidents and exposure to cancer inducing substances. Thus life is under constant threat from these environmental hazards.

South Asia faces severe impact of global warming like other parts of world, but there is a perceptible lack of cohesive strategies to combat the emerging threats that may disrupt the ecology with serious hazards. Alarming absence of snow and rain patterns, shrinking habitat and forests has heightened concern for water shortages and production of food grains.

Both rural and urban centers face overpopulation and reduction in cultivatable land. Urban centers are being subjected to an onslaught by rural migrations in search of opportunity and services. The traditional rural community has all but shattered.

Owing to unplanned over development the urban services and ecology are strained. Voracious developers are consuming green belts, parks and vast tracts of green pastures around the city.  Juxtaposed with existing hazards is growing deforestation. Growing need of timber in local markets for rapacious consumption and export to foreign nations, that have strict laws on sale of timber, but encourage import of timber products from third world countries into their markets.

This is a contradiction of declared policy on environmental protection and lax laws. Unless stringent regulations are enforced, the depleting forests will have catastrophic impact on the future of this region. Another nightmarish scenario of nations consumed by drought, famine and mass migration may be staring us in the face. The world cannot remain oblivious, as displacement of indigenous populations due to ecological disruption is a stark reality. Afghanistan and Pakistan have all, but depleted their forests owing to official patronage and corruption.

Alternatives to timber consumption have not been forthcoming. Ban on timber product exports and methodology to develop other resources is valuable, but greater awareness at the official level is also needed. Conversely, structural adjustments like devaluing of local currency against the dollar, rising costs of utilities, lifting of trade barriers, reckless privatization and slashing government spending on health, education and social sector have contributed in increasing poverty and thus reverse the goal towards a cleaner environment. Rabid consumerism is not the answer to third world poverty.

We need the whole-hearted participation of the general public, as until the public is not informed about their stake in conservation policy, it is doomed to failure and confined to unsustainable practices. The participation of informed public is the only way to preserve the remaining natural and cultural heritage that we have been left with. There has to be a combined and comprehensive effort by all the stakeholders.

An informed public can play a role in guiding the policy makers towards a sustainable development. Other wise, we would be facing serious consequences of environmental degradation which would be very hard to reverse, besides, irreversible effects on the health and productivity of our lifestyles.

Greater environmental hazards afflicting the globe has made it imperative that we “think globally, but act locally”. In other words a sustainable environment should be the primary objective for any developmental policy, and a grass roots participation of the public is necessary for carrying on this important task.

We have to work towards a saner system in order to live in a cleaner environment. For this we have to overcome the notions of ubiquitous greed and “MORE” – as it has led us nowhere. Let’s pledge on the World Environment Day today to “Give Earth a Chance”!

Adil Zareef
Dying forests, expanding deserts and rising sea levels would wreak havoc to human and animal lives sooner than anticipated
Other Articles
(Click to view an item)
Passage Through Peshawar By Adil Zareef (Jan 1994)
The Vanishing Wildlife By Air Marshal Ayaz Ahmed Khan (R) (Sep 1999)
O' Peshawar! By Dr Adil Zareef (Feb 26, 2000)
Globalization and Environment By Adil Zareef  (Feb 28, 2000)
Give Earth a Chance! By Adil Zareef (Jun, 2002)
List of some Historical Monuments of Peshawar By Prof Mohd Said (Mar 2002)
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