The the activists of International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and Baanhn Beli organizations , members of the civil society, environmentalists and common people from Parkar region gathered at Nagarparkar town, the place of natural biodiversity to commemorate World Environment Day on Friday.
The event was attended by more than 80 members/ participants from different walks of life in which the women’s participation was highly noteworthy and appreciable towards creating the significance of their active participation in such healthy activities . The participants at the events were welcomed by the senior . executive member of Baanhn Beli Dr. Shanker Lal.Speaking at the event, IUCN coordinator, Naveed Ali Soomro highlighted the importance of Ecosystem Restoration. He highlighted the significance of this year’s theme of World Environment Day — Ecosystem Restoration — he also emphasized the need to raise awareness among the local people to fight against the distortion of the ecosystem. Speaking on the occasion Javed Samoon a local environmentalist said this was a time to save wildlife and trees from extinction he cited the example of the recent oxygen crisis in India and Brazil during the recent COVID-19 wave in which tens of thousands of people lost their lives. ” If we fail this time, we will face the same situation in future: Samoon warned. .
Allah Rakhio EC member BB spoke about the air pollution and related issues of Parkar as well as Thar. He said that Tharparkar was a historical place that was rich in different resources and a variety of fauna and flora species that made Tharparkar more beautiful. ” As Tharparkar district is divided into three ecosystems i.e. sandy, mountain, Rann of kutch and the difference in the ecosystem creates biodiversity that makes Thar and Parkar most attractive,” he added. He made it clear that nobody would be allowed to deface the beautiful Parkar region and its Karoonjhar hills.
Prof Mushtaque Ahmed Dal, the executive member – BB said why fields of Parkar region are turning barren adding he observed that the use of tractors for ploughing the fields was the main reason behind destruction of the small plants of various trees. He also advised the local farmers to avoid the use of pesticides to keep the quality of their organic vegetables. Dr Ashok Bakhtani of Thar Foundation spoke about the diseases caused by contaminated and polluted water. He said that the Environment Day event was one great gathering that encouraged the Thari people to protect and save the environment. Dr Ashok said that Thar was transforming fast and needed special attention from all quarters and stakeholders to protect its vulnerable environment and ecology. He requested the participants to create awareness among the common people to not only plant more trees but to protect the small plants and bushes especially in the hilly terrains of Parkar. Mr Narender Kumar, the executive member Baanhn Beli said the issues of climate change were posing gravest threats to the people everywhere.
“The Corona will end with the vaccine but there is no vaccine for climate change and its devastating impacts ”. Having the opportunity of hosting this environment day in Pakistan, we all have a great responsibility to spread awareness about global warming amongst the masses and share with them possible measures which can be taken to mitigate its impacts on the planet. If we don’t act timely then we will have to face the rise in temperature and cost the county more than 4 billion/annum. He also shared that they don’t need to be associated with the big organization or have a great power or position to act against global warming, if it was so then Greta , a little girl shouldn’t have come out of Sweden to campaign to save the environment. It’s very important that we create awareness among the youth to save the planet earth. Dr Shankar Lal of Baanhn Beli shared that BB always mobilized the communities to seek more information about the vagaries of the climate change” He lauded the practices of local communities and indigenous peoples to support their inclusion in environmental decision-making and thanked everyone for their participation and assurance to take part in tree plantation and said it would help mitigate the impacts of climate change on the country.The participants of the event also planted the saplings of indigenous plants.
