Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: Air pollution causes the death of more than 22,000 adults and 700 children in Pakistan every year in addition to a loss of Rs 365 billion to the country’s economy annually, says a report.

The World Conservation Union (IUCN), in a recent report, quoted the World Bank’s assessments on environmental degradation and pointed out that the most significant impacts of environmental damage were illness and premature mortality caused by air pollution, diarrhoeal diseases and typhoid due to contaminated water supply, and lack of sanitation and hygiene.

The report said that waste management in Pakistan was extremely weak as no city in Pakistan except for Islamabad and Karachi had wastewater treatment facilities.

In Karachi, approximately 325 million gallons per day (MDG) of wastewater is generated, the majority of which ends up in the Indus Delta through Lyari and Malir rivers. The city has a waste treatment capacity for only 237 MDG if it works to maximum capacity. Most of the untreated domestic effluent and industrial waste ends up in the Indus Delta.

The report said that solid waste management was in a similar condition. Most of the waste does not get collected because of inadequate collection mechanisms. Furthermore, there is no sanitary landfill in the country. Only recently a proper landfill at Mahmoodbooti in Lahore has been constructed. Domestic waste is generally dumped in open areas, creating numerous problems such as drain blockages and fatal consumption by domestic animals.

Hazardous waste from industrial facilities, hospitals and laboratories is not treated any differently. In most cases, hazardous waste is dumped at open sites, often leading to fatalities, especially of children. Only a few medical facilities in the country have incinerators or other specialised waste management systems to handle infectious waste.

Pakistan also does not have any facilities to handle and treat industrial hazardous waste, which is usually dumped at unknown places.

Globally, the report said although Pakistan’s total contribution to global greenhouse emissions is less than one percent, the impact of climate change on the country’s population and economy is much more.

The report said that the adverse impacts of climate change are already apparent in the form of increased glacial melt, prolonged droughts, unusual temperature fluctuations and precipitation variability.

The effects of these phenomena on food production, water supply, biodiversity, natural ecosystem and human health not only threaten the integrity of the country’s primarily natural resource-based economy but also jeopardise the livelihoods of those who depend on the natural environment and the valuable goods and services that they provide.

The report said that the impact assessment studies of key sectors indicated water resources and agriculture as high priority sectors of extensive climate change impacts with implications on livelihoods of the population and the national economy.