A cleaner environment

SHAZIA RAFI

P UBLI SH E D O CT 05 , 20 15 02 :0 2A M

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The writer was consultant on air-quality parameters for SDGs.

ON Sept 25, 2015 Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif joined other heads of governments at the UN to adopt the
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which chart the way to a more sustainable future.
The SDGs lay out the path ahead with unprecedented detail 17 goals, 169 targets and specific indicators for
each target. Advocates for environmental health have worked tirelessly for strong parameters to reduce air
pollution, improve air quality, reduce chemical contamination of air as reflected in SDGs 3, 11 and 12. With no
ground-level air-quality monitoring equipment of international standard functioning in any city of Pakistan,
implementing these air-quality targets will be near impossible.

Japans development agency, Jica, had funded and installed an environmental monitoring system a few years
ago, but the project was held up. Equipment, said Malik Amin Aslam of the IUCN, was rusting. Alternatively,
we can ask the United States to include our major cities in the AirNow International monitoring system which
was tested in Shanghai 2010 and gives hourly readings in Beijing and Delhi among others.

Studies show that 88pc of traffic police in Karachi develop respiratory disease after
two years on the job.

Imported, hand-held air-quality monitoring devices are being used by some environment consultants and
industry to monitor industrial emissions, says Rafay Alam, vice-president, Pakistan Environmental Law
Association. Independent studies are also being undertaken by Pakistani hospitals and universities; all showing
very high levels of pollution. In fact, a study on Karachi done by the Aga Khan University shows that air
pollution, according to pulmonologist Dr Javaid Khan, is five times greater than the safe levels recommended
by the World Health Organisation. The Pakistan governments own compendium of environmental statistics
2010 shows air pollution from double to five times WHO levels.
There is a resulting rise of chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder, including among non-smokers, children
and the elderly. Studies by the Environment Protection Agency of Karachis traffic police show that 88pc
develop respiratory disease after two years on the job.
The causes of rising pollution in Pakistan are well known industrial emissions including from small-scale
industries in densely populated areas, continued use of diesel and other fossil fuels, weak emission control
laws, lack of an adequate garbage disposal system, with burning of plastic bags adding more chemicals into the
air.
The lack of a national coordination system on environmental health has become the obstacle to solutions.
Devolution has created challenges, says Pakistan WHO head Dr Michel Thieren. WHO technical consulting
mission is working with the Ministry of Health to set up a national health policy framework part of the
challenge is how do we read the Constitution in public health terms.
The Constitution, however, should not be read as an impediment to national policies ensuring citizens health.
As pointed out by Supreme Court Justice Mansoor Ali Shah the right to healthy air is within the right to life
and dignity under our Constitution.
Changing energy systems and environmental bad habits while difficult will be beneficial to the economy.
Pakistan does not currently calculate the negative health costs of environmental pollution. The government
should commission an opportunity cost comparison what is the base year (2015) cost of respiratory
diseases/ working days lost/ decline in agricultural produce resulting from poor air quality and how does that
compare in cost to investing in retrofitting/ new green technologies that will get us to the goals agreed for
2030.
For example, in China industrialisation at the expense of citizens health is finally being turned around after
studies showed a years estimated health cost of air pollution as $535 billion. This amount was found to be
much higher than the cost of change to green energy

As the largest solar energy producer worldwide, China has already jointly launched Quaid-i-Azam Solar Power
Park in 2014 which is supposed to generate 1,000MW electricity for the national grid by December 2016.
Pakistan, apparently, has pointed out a number of solar park sites; and Chinese companies are willing to
aggressively invest in this emerging sector due to high demand of clean energy in Pakistan, says Masood
Khalid, Pakistans ambassador to Beijing.
New technology for urban mass transit from Europe should also be reviewed; the Netherlands railways, for
example, will be completely wind-powered in three years.
Pakistans Vision 2025 does include several of the SDGs, including major sections on energy and water, air
quality is however missing. After having adopted the SDGs at the UN, Prime Minister Sharif should order a
revision of plans in light of all 17 goals.
Pakistans journey to 2030 must begin by bringing environmental health back up to the highest levels of
government responsibility; starting with daily measuring and reporting of the quality of the air we breathe.
The writer was consultant on air-quality parameters for SDGs.
Published in Dawn, October 5th, 2015

Climate plans by 140 nations not enough experts

in Science & Tech 2015-10-04 04:45:03 704 Views

(Reuters) - Plans submitted by 140 nations to limit their greenhouse gases would go some way
towards tackling climate change, but not enough to prevent the planet from warming by well
over 2 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial times, experts say.
The plans by countries from Albania to Zimbabwe, led by top emitters China and the United
States, were submitted by an informal United Nations deadline on Thursday as building blocks
towards a climate accord that negotiators will try to clinch at a summit in Paris in December.

A Climate Action Tracker (CAT) by four European research groups projected the plans, if
implemented, would limit average temperature rises to 2.7 degrees Celsius (4.9 Fahrenheit)
above pre-industrial times by 2100, down from 3.1C (5.6F) estimated last December.
That is still clearly above the 2C (3.6F) level that governments have accepted as the threshold
beyond which the Earth would face dangerous changes including more droughts, extinctions,
floods and rising seas, which could swamp coastal regions and entire island nations.
"We're below three degrees for the first time," Bill Hare of Climate Analytics, which is part of
CAT, told Reuters. "We're obviously far from where we need to be, but this is a signal that the
process can work."
He said the main contributor was Beijing's plan, issued in June, to get emissions from burning
coal, oil and natural gas to peak by around 2030.
A top priority for the Paris talks, six years after the failure of a previous summit in Copenhagen,
will be to find ways to toughen the plans in order to meet the 2C target.
"What the negotiations are looking to do is build not just that first step but the entire staircase,"
said Taryn Fransen, of the World Resources Institute think-tank.
Experts said the wide participation was welcome. "It takes away one of the possible stumbling
blocks for Paris," said Frank Melum, a senior analyst at Thomson Reuters Point Carbon.
He said every emitter accounting for more than one percent of global emissions met the Oct 1.
deadline except India, Iran and Saudi Arabia, which is fearful of a shift from fossil fuels.
Together the plans cover almost 80 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. The U.N.
Climate Change Secretariat says it will add up them all up in coming weeks to estimate their
effect in slowing climate change. It has privately told countries that they have a few days'
leeway.
India, the biggest emitter yet to submit, plans to outline its plan for action on Friday to coincide
with the birthday of independence leader Mahatma Gandhi.

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No climate policy
F.H. MUGHAL

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IN September 2012, the federal climate change ministry developed the National Climate Change Policy. The
goal of the policy was to mainstream climate change in various sectors. However, the policy has mostly
remained dormant.
In November 2013, the federal climate change division produced a framework document for the
implementation of climate change policy. The document proposed actions across a range of sectors, which
were mainly directed towards conservation. For example, the document proposed installation of water meters
to check the indiscriminate use of drinking water supplies. A Climate Change Commission has been recently
formed for the implementation of the climate change policy, and the framework document.

The Fifth Assessment Report of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concludes that the
warming of the climate system is definite, and extreme weather events associated with climate change pose
particular challenges to human settlements.
Climate change predictions for South Asia include increased temperatures, rainfall and flooding, droughts and
increased intensity of extreme weather events. Extreme weather events (heatwaves and floods) have already
occurred in Sindh. An extreme heatwave occurred in Karachi, Hyderabad and Sukkur in June this year, killing
1,200 people in Karachi and 200 in other cities of Sindh. Another heatwave occurred in Karachi and other parts
of Sindh for four days in September.

The state of awareness about climate change in Sindh is poor.

Cities in Sindh are changing due to the impact of climate change. Urban infrastructure and quality of life are
facing significant threats. Karachis water supply is dependent on the Indus River, which is far away from the
city. Increased temperatures are expected to decrease the per capita availability of water. Hyderabad and
Sukkur also depend on the Indus for their water supply. Water shortages have already occurred in these cities.
Higher temperatures will decrease the dissolved oxygen levels in the river. The bacterial respiration rates will
rise with increasing temperature, enhancing the biochemical oxygen demand of the river. Taste and odour
problems are also associated with high temperatures. High temperatures mobilise heavy metals from the
bottom sediments. Use of chlorine in water treatment plants will also increase because chlorine decays
relatively quickly in warm water. Simply stated, increased temperatures will degrade the water quality of the
Indus.
Heavy rainfall worsens stream water quality by increasing organic load, turbidity, microbial population and
inflow of agrochemicals. Arsenic and fluorides are likely to be mobilised in case of heavy rainfall. Salinity
intrusion is expected in wells located in coastal areas in extreme weather events, disrupting water quality.
Water treatment plants treating raw water containing high organic load run the risk of the formation of
trihalomethanes, when humic substances react with chlorine. Flooding of water treatment plants occurs during
increased rainfall. The entire urban water supply system will be impacted due to climate change in Sindhs
cities.
There are various scenarios for sea-level rise, ranging from just over half a metre rise predicted by IPCC, to
two metres by independent US researchers by 2100. A two-metre sea-level rise in Karachi would submerge
many parts of the city. Karachi is also vulnerable to cyclones and storm surges, which can disrupt the citys
municipal services.
Frequent rainfall will deteriorate the road surface and steel bridges. High temperatures will affect the aging
bitumen of the road surface, causing cracks. Built-up areas in Karachi, Hyderabad and Sukkur, during
heatwaves, will magnify the impact of heat due to the heat island effect, especially in the absence of green
infrastructure in the cities. Green infrastructure is defined as a strategically planned network of natural and
semi-natural areas.

Urban sanitation facilities are highly sensitive to flooding and storm surges. As they work on gravitational pull,
they are often situated at the lowest point. They can, therefore, be easily inundated by rising water levels.
In case of solid waste management operations in Karachi, Hyderabad and Sukkur, increased precipitation will
cause inundation of the landfill road network, instability of landfill slopes, and increased leachate from
landfills. The state of awareness about climate change in Sindh is practically zero. For example, at a recent
public hearing on the Karachi Mass Transit Plan 2030, and opinions expressed in print media, hardly anyone
raised the point of impact of climate change on the six bus rapid transit corridors under the mass transit plan.
Robust adaptation plans are required for cities in Sindh, based on vulnerability assessment. Moreover, a proper
institutional set-up within the Sindh government is required which can take well-coordinated actions on
adaptation plans.
The writer has studied environmental engineering from the Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok.