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Environmental Issues in Pakistan

Environmental issues in Pakistan, include deforestation, air pollution caused by factories, water pollution from the dumping of raw sewage, noise pollution from traffic in megacities, climate change, pesticide misuse, soil erosion, natural disasters and desertification. These are serious environmental problems that Pakistan is facing and it is getting worse as the country’s economy expands and the population grows. Unfortunately, not much is being done to tackle these issues, because the goals of economic growth and the goals of tackling terrorism within the country supersede the goals of environmental preservation. Although NGOs and government departments have taken initiatives to stop environmental degradation, Pakistan’s environmental issues, however, still remain the silent elephant in the room. 

Sections:

1. Consequences of environmental degradation
2. Pollution
   1. Water pollution
   2. Noise Pollution
   3. Air pollution

1. Climate Change
2. Natural disaster
3. Deforestation
4. Soil erosion and
5. Conservation Efforts

Consequences of Environmental Degradation

Majority of Pakistan’s industrial sectors, for example fishing and agriculture, which count for more than one forth of the output and two-fifth of employment in Pakistan, are highly dependent on the country’s natural resources. Hence in order to sustain economic growth there is a high demand on already scare natural resources. However it is ironic that what the country depends on for its growth is also what threatens the future welfare and success of the country. 70% of the Pakistan’s population live in rural areas and are already stricken of high poverty levels. These people depend on natural resources to provide an income and tend to over use these resources. This leads to further degradation of the environment and subsequently increases poverty. Hence this has led to what the World Bank refers to as a “vicious downward spiral of impoverishment and environmental degradation.”   

Pollution

Pollution in the form of water pollution, air pollution and noise pollution, threatens Pakistan’s economy, it’s citizen’s lives and their health and most importantly makes already scarce resources redundant.

Water pollution

Pakistan faces a major scarcity when it comes to water resources, especially finding clean water supplies. There is only one major river, the Indus River that supplies water through out the agricultural plains in Punjab and in Sindh, while the rest of the country has very little access to other fresh water supplies. The scarcity of water not only threatens Pakistan’s economy but also poses a serious threat to the lives of millions of Pakistanis. The issue of water pollution further worsens this problem for Pakistan. The sources for water pollution include, the over use of chemical fertilisers, the dumping of industrial wastes into lakes and rivers, untreated sewage being dumped into the ocean and contaminated pipelines being used to transport water. This contaminates fresh drinkable water, making it harder for people to find clean water supplies and increases the prevalence of water born diseases. Consequently, most of the reported health problems in Pakistan are either a direct or indirect result of polluted water. (Ismat Sabir (2012) Water Is Becoming Scarce. Pakistan Observer, 28 November 2012.) According to a report, 45% of infant deaths are due to diarrhea and 60% to overall water borne diseases. Pakistan’s inability to solve this water crisis is due to the lack of accountability, unclear laws and strategies amongst the government departments and the lack of public participation and awareness.

Noise pollution

The megacities of Pakistan, such as Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad and Rawalpindi face the issue of noise pollution. The main source of this pollution is the traffic noise caused by busses, cars, trucks, rickshaws and water tankers. A study showed that on one of Karachi’s the main road the average noise level was around 90 dB and is capable of reaching about 110 dB. This is much higher than ISO’s noise level standard of 70 dB, which is not meant to be harmful to the human ear. However the study also concluded that in Pakistan, “the traffic noise levels limit as laid down by National Environment Quality standrs, Environmental protection agency is 85 dB". This high level of noise pollution has auditory and non-auditory health issues. Auditory issues include the loss of auditory sensory cells and non-auditory health issues include “sleep disturbance, noise and cardiovascular disease, endocrine response to noise and psychiatric disorder.” Unfortunately there are very few, vague laws and policies in regards to noise levels. There is no accountability, and while the federal and provincial environmental protection agencies receive dozens of complaints on noise pollution from the puble, these agencies are unable to take action due to legal constraints and the absence of national noise level standards.