HYDERABAD, June 27: Acting President Mohammedmian Soomro has stressed the need for community participation in challenging the menace of environmental pollution.

He said this while speaking as the chief guest at the launching of environmental education material at a local hotel on Friday.

The function was jointly organized by the IUCN, the World Conservation Union, Pakistan chapter, and the British Council.

In his short speech, Mr Soomro said that environmental problems in the present age had attained enormous significance.

He said environment has always had both a good and bad effect on our way of life and it was, therefore, extremely necessary to preserve an equilibrium in the environment, and added that it was only possible, if all the natural resources given to us by the Almighty, including water and forests, were used in a balanced manner.

He said we could start this from our homes by stopping leakage in our water taps, and added that if all the people took care of this small matter, we could save a lot of water.

He said judicious and optimum use of water was equally important.

Mr Soomro stressed the need for setting up treatment plants for industrial waste, and added that prevention was less costly than cure.

He emphasized the need for integrated efforts to combat pollution.

He said the government alone could not fight against pollution hazards, and added that consistent and joint efforts were needed by the community at large to launch a consistent campaign to combat pollution.

He said that women could play a leading role in creating awareness about the environment.

APP adds: Mr Soomro said there is a need of involvement of women in a wider sense in combating pollution as they can communicate the messages to their children easily during their learning age.

He said the environmental threats can be avoided by maintaining a balance in every aspect of life, and added that unbalancing in any field can create more difficulties for the people.

He said more water can be preserved for routine life by avoiding its wastage, and added that similarly, irrigation water can also be saved for cultivation of waste agricultural land by adopting the latest technologies including land levelling.

He emphasized upon the need for lining of water courses to avoid wastage of irritation water, which was one of the major causes of water logging and salinity.

He said because of improper draining in the past a vast part of agricultural land has become saline and waterlogged.

Mr Soomro said the Manchhar Lake has become polluted because of mixing of effluents and shortage of water.

He said there is also a need for water treatment system to provide potable water to the people.

He emphasized the need for avoiding misuse of natural resources which was badly affecting the forests of the country and its wildlife.

He appreciated the efforts of the IUCN and the British Council for producing environmental education material for school children and for teachers’ training. He hoped that it would help in maintaining a healthy atmosphere in the country.