October 10, 2008	Friday	Shawwal 10, 1429

KARACHI, Oct 9: Apart from their benefits to life, livelihood of people and ecology, the mangrove forests of Pakistan are part of a global, regional and national heritage and their fast depletion makes it obligatory for the Sindh government to expedite the process of handing over the management of these forests to the forest department which has the required expertise, team and infrastructure for its conservation and rehabilitation.

Mr Tahir Qureshi of International Union of Conservation of Nature (IUCN), who has been working on mangroves for the past two decades, said this at a programme organised by the Ladies Horticultural Club on Thursday.

Referring to the various rounds of official meetings that had been held over the past five months over the issue, Mr Qureshi said that so far no progress had been made and the mangrove forests continued to face serious threats.

“Lack of a single authority and uniform legislation is a major threat to the existence of mangroves. Multiple agencies exercise control over these forests, but nobody is ready to take responsibility. There are also areas which are free-for-all,” he said, adding that various stakeholders like the Karachi Port Trust, the Defence Housing Authority, the Board of Revenue and the Port Qasim had no expertise in management of mangrove forests.

”This is the need of the hour. The mangrove forests face a number of threats and need to be managed scientifically. Only the forest department could do this job,” he said.

About the present status of mangroves, he said their area had been reduced from 600,000 hectares to 86,000 hectares during the last 50 years. “Pakistan, which used to be the sixth largest mangrove cover in the world, now stands at the 35th number,” he informed the audience, adding that the reduced flow of freshwater, pollution, and deforestation for commercial purposes were among the major threats to the forests.

Underlining the need to determine the status of current fish stock, he said the last such study was carried out by the Food and Agriculture Organisation in 1986.

“The study showed Pakistan having rich fish stocks in its waters. But the study is too old to be taken as a guideline and reference point. With increasing pollution and depletion of the mangrove cover, there is a strong case for carrying out a fresh study. We can’t talk about fish stock management until we know its current status.”

He also spoke about the IUCN’s efforts in mangrove plantation and said that the organisation was ready to support anyone with technical expertise in efforts for mangrove rehabilitation.

“The residents of Clifton and Defence should stand up and own these forests that serve as barriers to natural calamities,” he remarked.

Assistant Professor (Dr) Irfan Aziz of Karachi University’s botany department, who is doing research on the anti-oxidant properties of mangroves, highlighted the various medicinal properties and economic benefits of mangroves.