Amir Khan

Climate change is having a significant impact on people's lives and it has to be addressed immediately, Vice Chancellor of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Women University (SBBWUP) Prof Dr Safia Ahmed said. Speaking at a conference on climate change, she said that people are uninformed of the long-term effects and emphasised the importance of quick global action to prevent calamities brought on by climate change. She mentioned the actions made by the university in particular, including the introduction of the Climate Change Cell in 2017 to increase public awareness and lessen the effects of climate change.

She said that connections with other institutions and overseas universities are also being worked on. The National Incubation Center and the SBBWUP recently inked an agreement under which university students would present ideas for campaigns to raise awareness of climate change. Former federal minister Dr Noorul Haq Qadri speaking on the occasion said that the government has given the notion of a green and clean Pakistan since the country is dealing with a serious climate change crisis.

He said that the previous administration had launched several planting projects and was particularly appreciative of nature. He proposed that religious leaders be involved in raising awareness of climate change. According to him, destroying nature and its natural processes is just as serious a crime as killing someone. Prof Dr Jahan Bakht, Vice Chancellor of the Agriculture University, said that global warming is getting worse by the day, and 11% of spent water is recycled globally. In Pakistan, however, barely 1% of water is recycled.

If we are unable to effectively save water, we will have a serious water crisis in 2025, which will also have an impact on Pakistan's ability to produce food, Dr Jahan said. Only 34% of Pakistan's wheat was produced during the course of the previous year, which poses a major danger to the country's economy, he continued.Dr Farhan Shamish, chairperson of the department of environmental sciences, and Abdul Wali Khan of Mardan University provided a thorough briefing on how to safeguard the climate while speaking through a power point presentation.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk