HYDERABAD: Environmenta­lists and academicians warn ‘bio-terrorism’ poses a serious threat to earth today and urge people to plant more and more trees to make cities green and control industrial pollution in order to leave a greener atmosphere for future generations.

They were speaking at different programmers held to mark the International Mother Earth Day in Hyderabad and Khairpur on Friday.

At a seminar at Sindh Museum, Sindh Agriculture University’s vice chancellor, Dr Mujeebuddin Sahrai, urged people to plant more saplings to mitigate effects of rising heat level and environmental changes.

He said that minimum consumption of energy could bring down level of carbon dioxide and rise oxygen level. Towns and cities must be turned into green and treatment plants must be installed in industrial units to treat wastewater before releasing it into the environment, he said.

Environmental expert Nasir Ali Panhwar expressed grave concern over shrinking forest land to clear area for farmland and said the trend must be stopped immediately.

Prof Dr Sarfaraz Hussain Solangi of the University of Sindh said that sea level was rising because of climate change. It was necessary to ensure release of water up to delta to control rise in sea level, he said.

He said that forests were being destroyed and level of salinity was rising in delta. Appropriate action must be taken to save coastal areas of Thatta, Badin and Karachi from climate change impact, he said.

The director general of Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA), Karachi, Naeem Ahmad Mughal, said the theme of the day this year was ‘Trees for the Earth’ and the goal had been set to plant 7.8 billion trees over the next five years around the globe. He stressed the need for creating awareness among people to make collective efforts and take responsibility for promotion of sustainable development.

Deputy Inspector General of Police Khadim Hussain Rind said that he and his team had planted around 100,000 saplings at various police training centres and police stations. He said that police were always ready to provide help to SEPA and said that stern action would be taken against those who were found violating environmental laws.

At a walk organsied by the department of geography of the University of Sindh from Old Campus to the press club, assistant professor Sujo Mal said the walk was aimed at creating awareness among people to take collective responsibility for the protection of nature.

Social worker Hafeez Qureshi, assistant professor Shaista and Prof Manthar Ali Brohi said that ‘bio-terrorism’ posed a serious threat to earth, which could be averted through awareness programmes.

KHAIRPUR: For the third consecutive time, Mehran University of Engineering and Technology (MUET) Z.A Bhutto campus of Khairpur held a seminar on Friday to mark the World Earth Day to spread awareness among people and students for creating clean atmosphere, pleasant air and healthy activities on earth.

The event was held in collaboration with the Sindh Environment Protection Agency, Sukkur.

Dr Kaniya Lal, Aslam Parvez Shaikh, district forest officer Ziadullah Leghari were chief guests on the occasion.

Speaking at the seminar, engineer Sajjad Mangi said the World Earth Day was marked on April 22 throughout the world every year. He said the earth was enriched naturally with many features and blessings and if “we increase tree plantation, we will observe so many positive changes in our lifestyle as a result of it”.

Ziadullah Leghari said the earth was in itself a blessing, but pollution, less oxygen in air and hot weather created many problems. He stressed the need to create awareness among the masses and students for planting more and more trees and to take full responsibility of their growth.

He said there was need for keeping earth clean, controlling unnecessary usage of water and using alternate sources of energy.

Tasleem Ahmed Abbasi, Ameer Gul Sumbal and Shafiulla also stressed on the importance of tree plantation, saying that trees not only produced oxygen, but also absorbed carbon dioxide.

Later, shields were distributed among the speakers and saplings were planted in the lawn of the university.

Meanwhile, the department of geography of the Shah Abdul Latif University organised a walk to mark the International Mother Earth Day.

Prof Dr Mumtaz Hussain Mahar who led the walk said that drastic measures should be taken to prevent global warming and protect environment.

Noor Hassan Chandio, in-charge of the department of geography, said that all stakeholders must play their role to control pollution and plant trees. More than 25 per cent area should be allocated for forests in the country, he said.

Published in Dawn, April 23rd, 2016