ISLAMABAD: Amid political and economic challenges, environmental conflicts have further exacerbated the situation for Pakistan, inflicted loss of $100 billion during the last two decade due to climate change compared to around $130 billion total external debt since the country’s creation.
This was the crux of a thematic session titled, “Environmental conflict and social dialogue in Pakistan” organised by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) on Thursday.
Moderated by Dr Zainab Ahmed from Beaconhouse National University (BNU), the session was also attended by Higher Education Commission (HEC) Chairman Dr Mukhtar Ahmed, Imrana Tiwana, BNU; Prof Dr Arshi Saleem Hashmi from National Defence University; Qazi Saqib Basir from Muslim Aid Pakistan and Prof Rafi Amirud Din from Comsats University, Lahore.
Speakers were of the view that by disturbing environment security, multiple crises, including hindering economic growth and food security, were created.
HEC Chairman Dr Ahmed said environmental conflict was one of the main challenges the country was currently facing. He said future wars would be fought over clean water and air, therefore, factors disturbing environment should be handled through collective wisdom. He said huge agriculture land was being used for housing societies, which would create serious challenges for the food basket.
“Nature is being disturbed and the government should come up with an institutional mechanism to ensure that no agriculture land is used for other purposes,” the HEC chairman said, adding that another big challenge was deforestation which had disturbed the weather pattern leading to increase in temperature that affected crops. He also recommended sustainable institutional arrangements to ensure reforestation.
Arshi Hashmi said that environmental conflict could not be taken in isolation and other factors were also making it challenging. She said sustainable peace was directly linked to secure environment, adding that environmental conflict affected each and every segment of the society.
Imrana Tiwana said environment was weighing high as currently 8 percent of the GDP was affected by climate change which was expected to reach 30 percent by 2050, ultimately, reducing life expectancy.
Saqib Basir said Pakistan had suffered $100 billion of losses due to natural disasters caused by climate change during the last two decades, while the total external debt of the country since its creation was around $130 billion. He further said that due to rising temperature and climate change around 70 to 80 percent development of the country was washed away. Rafi Amirud Din said conventional measures such as bans and taxes showed limited success in reducing single use plastic bag usage. Previous bans on plastic bags in Islamabad were transient and largely ineffective, he added.
Rampant use of non-compliant cosmetics in the absence of appropriate legislation, lack of awareness and quality infrastructure were not only raising grave health and environmental concerns, but also were a cause of embarrassment for the country at the international fora. This was the gist of a thematic session, “Minamata Convention Compliance in Pakistan: Role of Dermatologists and Regulatory Authorities” organised by the SDPI.
Experts observed that an array of skin lightening products exported by Pakistan had a high concentration of mercury, posing a grave risk to human health and environment. They said mercury poisoning referred to toxicity from mercury consumption and the symptoms depended on the type, dose, method and duration of exposure, which include muscle weakness, poor coordination, numbness in the hands and feet, skin rashes, anxiety, memory problems and trouble speaking, hearing and seeing.
Environmental experts, industrialists and policymakers mutually agreed that controlling sources of mercury pollution or emissions and educating the public about its grave impacts could effectively help minimise the toxic chemical’s exposure to human health and environment.
Moderated by Dr Razia Safdar from the SDPI, the session was attended by Director Lab/NEQS, PEPA, Dr Zaigham Abbas; Dr Farzana Altaf from the Ministry of Climate Change; Khawaja Mohiuddin from PSQCA; Brig Dr Naeem Raza from Pakistan Association of Dermatologists, Prof Dr Nadia Ali Zafar, AIMC Lahore; Dr Tahira Shahid, Kaya Wellness Retreat, Islamabad and Dr Sadia Tabassum from AKUH Karachi.
Dr Razia Safdar said Pakistan was part and signatory of Minamata Convention 2020 since March 2021, which prohibited the manufacture, import and export of cosmetics with mercury concentration over 1PPM. She said cosmetic industry contributed 55 percent mercury to the environment that needed to be regulated.
She further said every year as much as 9,000 tonnes of mercury were released into the atmosphere, water and land. The largest source of mercury emission is artisanal and small-scale gold mining, Dr Razia Safdar said, adding that everyone is exposed to some amount of mercury but a high amount can lead to long-term and sometime permanent neurological damages.
Dr Zaigham Abbas said Pakistan had already phased out mercury use from four industries, but now phasing it out from the health sector was also needed. He said the seriousness of the issue could be gauged from the fact that, out of 59 samples of skin-whitening creams which were tested, only three, were found to be complying with regulations and had mercury lower than 1PPM.
Khawaja Mohiuddin from PSQCA said the country lacked standard labs for testing contaminated cosmetics. He said the PSQCA would have taken action if factories were not following rules and would have even sealed them. It was also revealed that there was no legislation to regulate online platform involved in the sale of such cosmetics.
Brig Dr Naeem Raza from Pakistan Association of Dermatologists said the use of cosmetics with excessive mercury was rampant, and the reason behind its excessive use was non-implementation of law.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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