KARACHI: Experts at a workshop held here on Thursday said the commercial projects fast coming up along the coast, particularly in Karachi, and mostly being carried out without an independent assessment of their impact on the environment, posed a serious threat to the coastal city and its inhabitants.

The workshop was organised to give a final shape to the draft on coastal erosion management plan for Pakistan, which was part of a United Nations Environment Programme titled Strengthening the Resilience of Coastal Communities, Ecosystems and Economies to Sea-Level Rise and Coastal Erosion.

National Coordinator of Mangroves for the Future (MFF) programme working in Pakistan since 2010, Syed Ghulam Qadir Shah, said the phenomenon of coastal erosion was recognised as one of the major impacts of climate change-induced sea-level rise.

“Higher sea levels will allow waves to break nearer to the coast and transmit more wave energy to the coastline. This promotes erosion and coastal retreat as well as loss of coastal ecological and socio-economic values,” he explained.

Pakistan, he said, was listed among the top 10 countries at severe risks from climate change, in particular water scarcity and extreme events. The German Watch Global Climate Risk Index put Pakistan on top of he list of vulnerable countries in 2010 and 2011, he said.

According to Mr Shah said that according to some studies, the rate of erosion in some areas, like the Khobar creek in the Indus delta, was as fast as 30 to 50 meters per year.

“But despite such serious threats, the problem not received due official attention. There is neither any legislation nor any authority mandated to address the issue holistically,” he said.

Dr Qamaruz Zaman Chaudhry, IUCN consultant and former director general of Metrological Department who is also lead author of the national climate change policy, said the most worrisome issue was the rise in sea level.

“If that happens, there will be excessive floods in low-lying areas. Saltwater intrusion and land losses will increase, leading to relocation of coastal communities,” he warned.

In his opinion, sediment loss to Sindh delta caused by construction of dams and barrages upstream and construction of the Left Bank Outfall Drain contributed to coastal erosion.

Dr Chaudhry indentified Karachi, Thatta, Sujawal, Badin, Sonmiani, Pasni and Jiwani as major hotspots for coastal erosion.

Suggesting various soft and hard engineering measures like constructing seawalls, breakwater walls, jetties and beach nourishment to tackle the erosion, he said the solutions to the problem should be based on thorough study of a particular area and must involve relevant stakeholders.

Sindh coast, he recommended, could be divided into three zones; urban Sindh coast, Indus delta coast and Balochistan Makran coast.

Later, workshop participants gave their input on coastal management plan. One of their main concerns was related to Karachi’s coast, where, they said, there were powerful stakeholders like DHA, Karachi Port Trust and Port Qasim Authority, which had a habit of not accepting the government authority.

Participants from Balochistan said that the region most hit by coastal erosion hardly received any attention from the government and non-governmental organisations.

Prof Dr S.M. Saifullah at Karachi Uni­versity stressed the need for protecting and increasing mangrove cover that, he said, had reduced from 263,000 hectares to 70,000 to 100,000 hectares over three decades.

“If only we could protect and increase mangrove cover, we don’t have to anything else to address the problem of coastal erosion,” he said.

Published in Dawn, November 28th, 2014