October 4, 2002	Friday	Rajab 26, 1423

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ISLAMABAD, Oct 3: The government should not encourage establishment of new industrial units in the federal capital because the air particles carrying pollutants get trapped in the city, since it is a valley, and pose health hazards.

This recommendation was made at the concluding session of a three-day executive management seminar on environment and health held at a local hotel here on Thursday.

The seminar was organized by the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) in collaboration with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Regional Cooperation Project (RCP) and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). It was attended by 120 senior scientists and professionals.

The government was also asked to shift the industries outside the city limits. It emphasized on creating public awareness about the approved laws and regulations on environmental pollution like National Environmental Quality Standards (NEQS).

Speaking at the seminar, Federal Environment Minister Barrister Shahida Jamil called for exploring indigenous talent to prepare waste treatment plants within the country and at lower cost.

“We need indigenous talent to design equipment or processes to put up effluent treatment plants at low cost that is affordable to our national industry,” she said.

She said clean production processes were only available abroad, which were excellent and useful, but difficult to purchase because of high prices.

“This is where scientific community can play a useful role,” she said.

“We need inventions of our scientists to develop such products which our citizens can use to ensure conservation of water and to change their habits,” she added.

She further said “we need their inputs in the area of converting our industry into a cleaner production process at a reasonable cost so that the requirements of ISO 14000 can be met. We need to ensure that we do not lose our markets in 2005.”

The minister said Pakistan was a semi-arid and drought-prone country where human interventions had caused permanent loss of water from three historic rivers.

“No wonder our mangrove swamps were in trouble as they no longer receive the same load of water in the Indus Delta which would push the sea back, as it did over the centuries. No wonder the Indus Delta region, the sanctuary for our prawns, fishes and other sea life, is depleting thereby hurting livelihoods of our coastal communities,” she added.

Ms Jamil said some areas of the world were flooded with water or the sea-level rose to such an extent that it threatened to submerge island nations. However, there are some places that experience water scarcity and thirst as the sun scorches the earth and the heat dries up wells and vegetation, bringing disease, starvation and death, she added.