ISLAMABAD: Today, as Pakistan observes the World Environment Day 2015, 50 per cent of all human excretion generated by its 200 million people will find its way into fresh water bodies. And 40 per cent of people will die from water borne diseases.

These were some of the disturbing revelations made in the Economic Survey 2014-15 launched by the Ministry of Finance here on Thursday.

Spread over 180 pages, the Survey states that majority of the country’s population quench their thirst from unsafe and polluted sources of surface and ground water. Across the length and breadth of the country, water is contaminated with bacteria (68 per cent), arsenic (24 per cent), nitrate (13 percent) and fluoride (5 per cent).

The survey sketches a gloomy picture of the state of biodiversity in Pakistan and notes that urban development at the cost of environment has made it difficult for the government to meet the challenges of climate change. It is also stated that natural resources are depleting fast.

The survey points out that the country’s efforts to manage solid waste have failed. In particular, it discusses one of the most dangerous and often ignored aspects of improper waste disposal: medical and industrial waste being treated as municipal waste.

From collection to transportation, the mechanism for solid waste management is abysmal, especially in rural areas, where garbage is dumped in open spaces causing environmental degradation and increasing risks of communicable diseases.

While Pakistan ranks among the top five countries vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, the country has failed to save its forests. Pakistan had committed, under the Millennium Development Goals, to increase forest cover to 6 percent by 2015, which could not be achieved due to financial constraints.

And the picture gets even more dismal when the Economic Survey highlights how Pakistan’s 5, 000 glaciers are retreating faster than bodies of ice in any other part of the world. The consecutive floods from 2010 to 2012 caused $15 billion in losses affecting more than 20 million people and displacing some 300, 000.

However, the Survey neglected to discuss air pollution.

In his message on World Environment Day, Minister for Climate Change, Senator Mushahidullah Khan emphasized on how unsustainable patterns of consumption and production were one of the pre-dominant causes of environmental degredation in the country.

“We cannot afford to waste natural resources at any level. Resources are fast diminishing because of their unsustainable use,” said the minister.

Mushahidullah Khan highlighted that the goal of sustainable development was to increase the quality of life for all people without increasing environmental degradation and without compromising the resource needs of future generations.

The minister said that the World Environment Day should be celebrated by becoming more conscious and aware of the ecological impact of our life styles. “We must think about the environmental consequences of the choices we make. Our future will depend on choices we make today,” he said.

Published in Dawn, June 6th, 2015

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