Here's a chilling article about the effects climate change is having on our urban areas.
Climate change affecting agriculture in Karachi
Friday, March 13, 2009
By Perwez Abdullah
Karachi
Researchers from the University of Karachi (KU) Department of Geography have discovered the relationship between climate change and increase in the incidence of diseases, and the decrease in agricultural products in and around Karachi.
Former chairman of the department Dr Syed Jamil Hasan Kazmi along with his team of researchers worked on the impact of global warming on agriculture in Karachi on vector-born diseases (Malaria and Dengue) and the transformation of ecological systems within the mega city. Dr Kazmi has been working in Gadap, Kathor, Malir, Memon Goth, Darsano Channa and Hub agricultural areas for 20 years. “These were the fertile areas in 60s and provided fresh fruits and vegetables to the city. The mammoth growth of the city adversely affected the agriculture. Now the city meets only 10 per cent of the demand for fruits and vegetables from these areas.”
The irrigation of these agricultural lands was usually through the wells that were providing water after digging 20-30 feet below the surface. The rainfall pattern in the city has changed drastically since 1985, decreasing the frequency and intensity of rain in the city. This has resulted in drought of underground water levels. Now water can only be 400-500 feet deep. The high temperatures have evaporated the rain water quickly leaving the underground water levels dry. Two small ‘Check Dams’ have been built in Thuddo (North East of Super Highway) but it is sufficient for a 20 km area only.
“These people are living in the area for more than 300 years. Agriculture, which is their livelihood, is threatened by the change in climate and urban encroachment over the suburbs of the city. Now they have started sand mining in their areas to compensate for the loss of the agricultural production. This is very harmful as the unchecked removal of sand will create more ecological problems”, says Dr Kazmi.
According to Dr Kazmi, fruits and vegetables grown in the area cost more than the ones coming from Badin, Thatta, Sajawal, Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas, Tandojam and Rahim Yar Khan. “It is highly priced due to the shortage of water and extensive labour required to grow the crops in a semi-arid environment”, he explains.
Another effect of the lowering of the ground water level is the advance of sea water which causes salinity, due to which land ceases to be fertile. The Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) in these areas have a density of 3500 mg/litre compared to the World Health Organisation’s standard of 500 mg/litre. Elevated total dissolved solids can result in water having a bitter or salty taste, and can result in incrustations, films, or precipitates on fixtures, corrosion of fixtures, and reduced efficiency of water filters.
“Water is a good solvent and picks up impurities easily. Dissolved solids include any minerals, salts, metals, cat ions or anions dissolved in water. TDS comprise inorganic salts (principally calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, bicarbonates, chlorides and sulfates) and some small amounts of organic matter”, Dr Kazmi elaborates.
The mangroves also need fresh water, and due to saline water, these valuable plants wither and ultimately die. This has resulted in Pakistan sliding down the world ranking for mangroves from 13 to 21. With the country heading for an environmental disaster, concerned individuals in the government and in the civil society have pinned their hopes on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
IPCC is a scientific intergovernmental body set up by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) and by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to provide the decision-makers and others interested in climate change with an objective source of information about climate change. It was established by the WMO and UNEP in 1988 given that climate change is a complex issue, and policymakers need objective sources of information about the causes, consequences and measures necessary.
Climate Change affecting agriculture in Karachi
on Saturday, March 14, 2009
Measures for Clean Energy
on Thursday, March 5, 2009Below is an op-ed by Arif Pervaiz of the Clinton Climate Initiative that was published in Dawn
THE world is moving in the direction of a low-carbon economy not because it can afford the luxury — no one in today’s world has spare change — but because investments in energy efficiency and clean energy can create jobs, reduce waste, help revive economies and lower harmful greenhouse gas emissions that are causing global warming.Some argue that for Pakistan, whose total carbon emissions are minuscule — measuring less than 0.4 per cent of the global total — reducing greenhouse gas emissions is not a priority.
Wrong. What we should be looking at instead is our carbon intensity — measured in terms of greenhouse gas emissions per unit of GDP. Pakistan ranks in the bottom 14 out of 185 countries for its carbon intensity. Simply put, there are a lot of inefficiencies and wastage in our use of energy.
Actions aimed at greenhouse gas emissions reduction can result in better energy efficiency, less wastage, reduced pollution and improved public health. For these reasons, greenhouse gas reduction or ‘mitigation’ measures are important for us and should be part of our climate change strategy.
There are numerous initiatives that can be undertaken. Quite obviously we need to stem the ongoing haemorrhaging in our electricity system — 40 per cent of the electricity generated is lost. Why don’t the system’s losses get as much attention as talk of installing additional capacity?
Deployment of renewable energy as part of our energy mix has been very slow in coming. We need to devise a meaningful and ambitious plan for on-grid and diffused — district, neighbourhood and household — deployment of wind, solar PV, solar thermal, micro-hydels and other appropriate renewable technologies. The market for renewable energy solutions is emerging, but it needs
more support. Electricity loss reduction and renewable energy are viable solutions that should be focused on.
Another area in need of focus is transport and clean fuel. Rails and buses can carry more people per unit of energy consumed than private cars, but our investment priorities are highly focussed on the promotion of the use of private cars by a small elite. We need to start charging the real cost of car use and simultaneously develop effective mass transit systems. Car use should be taxed higher along with congestion and road-use charges, and car-free days should be introduced to encourage a shift to public transport.
It is important that any mass transit should be based on the local context, rather than technology. Subways and metros might appear attractive but they are very expensive and hard to maintain. Cheaper options like a Bus Rapid Transit System — planned for Karachi — are more appropriate, which partly explains why 80 cities around the world have or are in the process of developing a BRTS.
Mobility needs of the non-car-owning majority will require the building of extensive networks of navigable footpaths and bicycle tracks — this is important also from a public welfare standpoint. Especially when one considers the restricted recreational spaces available to families numbering eight, 12, sometimes 20 who live squeezed into tiny homes in congested localities.
Improvement in urban mobility and public health will have to include measures such as phasing out dirty-and-old buses, and two-stroke engines. Our refineries and petroleum suppliers need to start providing cleaner fuels — low sulphur diesel, pre-mixed fuel for two-stroke motorcycles — which have been promised for long. PSO has taken encouraging steps towards the production of bio-diesel. Production and deployment of bio-fuels — which don’t displace food crops and don’t require much freshwater — should be expanded and taken to scale.
There is vast untapped potential for generating energy using municipal waste. Some work is being done on this in Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad, but needs support for wider development. Electricity generation through methane capture (at wastewater-treatment plants), and processing construction and demolition waste for reuse in construction, should also be explored.
Karachi dumps 400 million gallons of wastewater including raw sewage directly into the sea everyday. Lahore and other major cities also dump their untreated waste into fields and water bodies. This egregious act defiles the environment, kills aquatic life, and creates a public health hazard. In many areas around the country, sewage water is used to grow vegetables. Karachi desperately needs implementation of the city government’s Sanitation III project, which promises to put an end to this mindless practice.
Technology and expertise are available to treat all of this sewage water for reuse, and supply it to industry, and for urban farming and parks. The water savings from this could offset the need for large additional investments in urban water supply, provide an opportunity to use precious money for other social and economic investments and improve our environmental capital. We should also look to save billions of rupees by improving energy efficiency of equipment and processes at our water and wastewater utilities — where there is tremendous scope for savings.
Key to progress on realising benefits of a cleaner and more energy-efficient environment will be the institutional arrangements we craft. The main driver of a low-carbon economy will be the private sector, bolstered by the state’s policy and regulatory bodies for environment, availability of easy financing and local and international assistance. To play a meaningful role, relevant NGOs will need to go beyond generic ‘awareness raising’ to organising technical training, fostering linkages with local universities and technical institutions, and bringing in relevant international expertise.
A coherent climate change strategy should be formulated and pursued through a high-level, well-resourced and independent body, e.g. a climate change council, with representation from industry, business, professional bodies, universities, NGOs, donor agencies and concerned government departments, which can guide, direct and support climate change-related activities.
Additional technical and financial support required should come from bilateral and multilateral institutions and from our friends like the US and EU who can structure their aid in ways that promote ‘green’ investments.
Far from being a tree-huggers’ wish list, the actions discussed above have the potential to create thousands of employment opportunities for skilled and unskilled people, revive our engineering and technical institutions, increase capacity and business opportunities for the private sector, upgrade our infrastructure, and save hundreds of millions of dollars by reducing waste. Oil prices might be low now but they will increase again soon, and so it is a question of ensuring energy security for an uncertain future. The private sector and international financial and technical assistance will be important drivers in the move to a low-carbon economy, but it is that all-elusive political will which will determine the pace and extent of the change.
The writer is an environmentalist working on the development of climate change mitigation projects.
anp@hotmail.com
ENVIRONMENT-PAKISTAN: Death of a Delta
on Monday, March 2, 2009By Zofeen Ebrahim*
KHARO CHAAN, Sindh, Feb 28 (IPS) - Sitting on a rickety bench outside the dispensary of Dr. Abdul Jalil at Deh Bublo, Issa Mallah, a centenarian, watches the world go by. He says he comes to this ‘city’ everyday to buy his groceries.
Jalil is not a doctor but a dispenser. And Deh Bublo does not even remotely fit the definition of a city - though it once was a flourishing town.
To Mallah and the other 5,000 or so inhabitants of the scattered 25-30 villages on this 25 sq km island of Kharo Chhan (salt water swamps in the Sindhi language), Deh Bublo - which has no electricity and depends on a muddy pond for drinking water - is the nearest thing to a city. It does boast of a primary school, a mosque and Jalil’s clinic.
The Indus delta, on which Kharo Chhan stands, once occupied an area of about 600,000 hectares. It consisted of creeks, forests and mudflats. The active delta, say experts, is now just 10 percent of the original area.
For the last 25 years, Jalil, who has studied till grade 12, has been practicing medicine at the government-run clinic. But, his own family has moved to Karachi for a ‘’better, cleaner’’ lifestyle.
Jalil’s practice is good thanks to the highly contaminated water the villagers buy from the vendors who tank up from the muddy swamp. ‘’I tell them to boil the water, but fuel is expensive and these people cannot afford it,’’ he says. ‘’Most of the children (some 800 are under-five) suffer from diarrhoea, cough and fever,’’ Jalil says.
Kharo Chhan, stands at a distance of 80 km from Gharo town on the National Highway, town, and 150 km from the port city of Karachi. It is located in the Mutni Creek of Thatta district.
A ferryboat trip costing Rs 25 (31 US cents) is the only way to get to the island. The ride lasts about 15 minutes but the boat will not leave the rickety jetty until it is full and that may take well over an hour. Passengers may have for company chickens, goats, buffaloes, bags of grocery and the odd bicycle.
There are waiting areas near the jetty in the form of chai khanas (tea stalls) where endless cups of sweetened milky tea may be had, even on credit, since people here are related to or are known to each other.
Mallah is old enough to remember a time when Deh Bublo was a major town, if not a city. Pointing to the market place with a stick he said: ‘’There was a post office, a proper school, a customs and revenue office, and a police station.’’
‘’Muslims, Sikhs and the Hindus lived here amicably till the Muslims shouted the slogan of Allah-o-Akbar (God is great), in 1947 [when India and Pakistan were partitioned on religious grounds] and the non-Muslims fled in a hurry, leaving all their property with us to pillage and usurp, ‘’Mallah reminisced.
‘’The barren land that you just came through to get here was once fertile. It was lush green. There were mango orchards, banana plantations, red rice, olive trees, coconut trees etc. We grew maize, barley and various lentils. It rained during the monsoons and we had ample fresh and clean water,’’ Mallah said.
The inhabitants of the Indus Delta who were predominantly farmers and herders have had to take to fishing in order to survive. ‘’Its only when our land became infertile that we turned to fishing,’’ says 56-year-old Abdullah Baloch.
Over the years Baloch lost 250 acres of cultivable land to the sea, some 50 buffaloes and around 80 goats. ‘’Altogether my family lost 3,500 acres. We were once considered big landlords in this place with farmers working for us. We even paid tax to the government. Now we don’t even have even an acre to plough,’’ he says wistfully.
According to the revenue department, 86 percent of the 235,485 acres of fertile land in Kharo Chhan has been swallowed by the sea. The population, over the past decade, has declined from 15,000 to 5,000.
Migratory birds like the red cranes, swans and geese would come in droves. Now, even the birds peculiar to this part have disappeared, said Shafi Mohammad Murghar, head of Delta Development Organisation, a local non-governmental organisation.
According to Murghar, the degradation of mangrove forests, loss of fresh water supply and the change in climatic pattern have not only disturbed the nesting and breeding patterns of birds but have also resulted in the birds changing their routes completely.
Mallah believes that the land has been ravaged by seawater intrusion - something that environmentalists have been crying hoarse about for the past three decades.
As the sweet waters of the mighty Indus get increasingly diverted by dams and other projects upstream, there just is not enough left to battle the seawater pushing its way inwards. ‘’And this ingress of brackish seawater,‘’ says Mallah ‘’is the reason why swathes of fertile tract have become barren.''
The climate change phenomenon, say experts, is another challenge for the delta’s delicate ecosystem. The United Nations International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has warned that global temperatures will rise by 1.4 to 5.8 degrees centigrade by the end of this century, causing glaciers to melt and sea levels to rise. Since 1850, the sea level has risen by 165 mm.
Many trace the woes of the deltaic community to the period between 1923 and 1932 when the first barrage across the Indus was built at Sukkur.
‘’When the British engineers came here, we garlanded them. We thought they were channeling the water for our land. But, look at what happened. All the water has been diverted upstream,’’ said Mallah.
More than Sukkur, it was the construction of the Kotri barrage (1955) further downstream, and then the Guddu barrage (1962) closer to the sea, that dealt a deadly blow to the delta. Sea ingress began affecting the underground water in the delta, turning it brackish and unfit for drinking.
Today, with 19 barrages and 12 inter-river link canals handling over 106 million acre feet (MAF) of surface water, the Indus Basin irrigation system is one of the largest irrigated networks in world. But the price of this is being paid by people who live on the delta.
Ironically, while the uneducated and poverty-ridden people of the delta know what is needed to breathe life back into the delta, policy makers appear clueless and consider fresh water flowing into the sea a waste.
‘’It is the very mixing of the sweet and the salt water that provides sustenance for the delta,’’ says Baloch.
‘’Do you know the palla fish (only found in Sindh in the Indus) develops its delicate flavour because, although a marine species, it swims into the mouth of the river where sea and river water mix?’’ ‘’Now palla is a rarity and, even if we catch any, the taste is just not the same,’’ Baloch adds.
Fresh river water flowing into the sea brings many benefits. It maintains salinity in the estuaries, allowing aquatic life to thrive and maintain a balanced eco-system. And most importantly mangroves need both river and sea water to thrive.
According to the ministry of environment, of the mangrove forests of Pakistan, located at four geographical locations along the 1,046 km-long coastline, the Indus delta accounted for 98 percent .
The Sindh mangroves once extended over 26,000 sq km. A combination of natural causes and human activity depleted this valuable protective cover to just 2,600 sq km, leaving the deltaic people here vulnerable to cyclones and tsunamis.
(* Written under the aegis of the CSE Media Fellowship)
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