KARACHI, June 1: The World Environment Day is being observed on June 5 with the theme of ‘Don't Desert Dry lands’. The year 2006 has already been declared as the ‘International Year of Deserts and Desertification’.

The Foundation for Progress, an NGO, plans to observe the day by holding a seminar on ‘Dry lands Rehabilitation - Poverty Alleviation’ on June 5 at the DHA Creek Club.

The event is being organized in collaboration with the Department of Environment and Alternate Energy, Sindh, and the UNDP.

The total area of Pakistan

is 179.6 million hectares of which 70 million hectares are arid and semi-arid, 11 million hectares are deserts, and only 16 million hectares are under irrigation.

Pakistan's major environmental concerns are land degradation due to urbanization, droughts, floods, salinity, seawater intrusion as well as deforestation, biodiversity loss, mono-cropping and groundwater depletion.—PPI