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NATIONAL SCI-TECH SCENE
Tasman Spirit oil spill: cleansing to take five years
Scientists say the marine ecosystem adversely affected due to the massive crude oil spill from the grounded oil tanker Tasman Spirit would need at least five years to be restored to its original condition. The ship was carrying about 67,000 tons of oil out of which 31,000 tons spilled.
Following the mishap on July 27, 3,000 tons of crude was spread about 40 square kilometre area in the sea. The 10-km coastal belt was directly affected by the spill, and severe adverse effects on marine life were also observed.
Several principal investigators from their respective fields apprised the Federal Minister of State Tahir Iqbal in their presentations at the Sindh EPA complex at Karachi on Monday. The Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (PEPA), in collaboration with the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA), with the financial support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) undertook Natural Damage Assessment Project to estimate and assess the effects.
The experts told the minister that comprehensive reports on qualitative and quantitative aspects of environmental and marine pollution disasters were being finalized along with suggestions on remedial measures and future line of action.
Scientists from the National Institute of Oceanography, HEJ, IUCN, Wildlife Department, Fisheries Department, Zoological Survey of Pakistan and University of Karachi briefed the meeting about their findings.
Provincial Secretary of Environment and Alternative Energy Shujaat Ali Qarni informed the minister about actions taken by his department and EPA in the wake of oil spill from Tasman Spirit. He referred to the beach-cleansing operations and maintained that it was accomplished much before the expected time following which beach was also reopened to public, said a source privy to the meeting. PEPA Director General Asif Shuja Khan and DG, SEPA, Mohammad Younus Dagha, were also present on the occasion.
Check on ozone depletion needed
Developed nations must to share their experiences with developing countries and help them initiate effective measures for checking ozone-layer depletion since all the countries were equally responsible for protecting the environment and evolving result-oriented policies to meet future challenge, said Minister of State for Environment Tahir Iqbal while speaking at the open ceremony of the three-day Regional Meeting of South Asia Network Countries on ‘Effective Policy Setting and Enforcement’, in Islamabad on Monday. The meeting was jointly organized by the Ministry of Environment and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
In the existing scenario, he added, developed nations have a critical role to play. Though extensive research is going on the subject but the developing countries need financial assistance so that they can also get benefits from the results of such research, he said.
He reiterated the government’s resolve to implement the Montreal Protocol, saying a number of steps had been taken for its effective implementation. “We have developed National Environment Quality Standards; we have National Environment Act and put in place the Environment Implementation Assessment for all projects,” he added.
Loss of biodiversity, degradation of ecosystems, droughts and dessertification, deforestation, disposal of liquid and solid waste, vehicular and industrial pollution were the result of several years of rapid growth by industrialized nations without any regard for the environment, the minister said.
WHO seeks proposals
The World Health Organization has asked the NWFP health department to submit proposals for small research grants to control tropical and other communicable diseases.
Officials said WHO had listed 21 diseases for which small research grants would be released provided the department sent proposals by Feb 29. However, the health directorate has sent only two proposals as yet; one each on water and sanitation and malaria control in the province.
Each research programme would get $10,000 as a grant under the Small Grants Scheme (SGS), officials said. Many of the diseases contained in the WHO’s list were prevalent in the NWFP, the official said and added that the department needed to prepare proposals for all the listed diseases on a priority basis.
The WHO’s list includes bloody diarrhoea, haemorrhagic fever, HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases, leprosy, malaria, meningitis, rabies, TB, vaccine preventable disease, measles, rubella, neonatal tetanus, hepatitis B and influenza B.
“WHO will allocate $210,000 for all the 21 research proposals, but the department has so far sent only two proposals, which means that the province will lose $190,000 and will receive only $20,000,” said a source. — Sci-tech World Report
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