17 January 2005	Monday	06 Zilhaj 1425

KARACHI, Jan 16: A large number of children, accompanied by their parents, visited the day-long Nature Carnival, that was organized by a non-governmental organization, the World wide Fund for Nature (WWF) at the PAF Museum on Sunday.

Over 50 schools participated in the activity, where the students had prepared various three-dimensional models based on five themes - Birds of Pakistan, Wild flowers of Pakistan, Mangrove eco-system, coastal area of Pakistan and Alternative energy.

The youngsters were repeatedly giving detailed briefings regarding the models, which they had prepared, to the inquiring visitors, overwhelming majority of whom comprised children.

These briefings, punctuated with the scientific data, showed that the younger generation was fully aware of the natural resources, and what the unplanned and unchecked industrialization was doing to the environment.

The schoolchildren highlighted the importance of the mangrove forests by explaining the role that they played as the breeding grounds of commercially important marine food species like crabs, lobsters, prawns, shrimps, etc. They said that the extensive and well-developed root system of the mangroves also strengthened the coastal areas resistance to land erosion.

They also explained the roles the bird and wild flowers played in the biodiversity and maintaining the balance in the fragile ecosystem, which, if disturbed, could have disastrous effects on the environment as well as on the human beings.

Various models depicting the grounding of the oil tanker, Tasman Spirit, in the Karachi Harbour channel, leading to a huge oil spill having devastating effects on the coast of Karachi and the Arabian Sea, were also on display and attracted a large number of visitors.

Top prizes in the four categories - Birds of Pakistan, Wild Flowers of Pakistan, Mangrove Ecosystem and Alternative Energy - were bagged by the Falcon House Grammar School's Campus 5, Campus 4, Campus 3 and Campus 5, respectively, while top prizes in the two categories - Coastal Areas of Pakistan and Overall Best Performance - were clinched by the City School (Prep) and Gulshan Junior 4, respectively.

Sindh chief minister's adviser on Environment and Alternative Energy Nauman Saigal, ICI chief Jonathan R Stoney, WWF's Dr Ejaz Ahmad and Marina Khan distributed the prizes among the winners.

Speaking on the occasion, they said it was heartening to see that the children were aware of the importance of environmental protection and judicious use of natural resources. They said that such events played an important role in creating awareness among the younger generation.