KARACHI: Faced with serious funding constraints for the past many years, the botanical garden of Karachi University (KU) has lost a large collection of its flora, it emerged during a recent visit to the facility.

Many of these plants, sources said, had been brought from country’s northern parts and were being looked after in the ‘temperate and alpine house’ dedicated to species of moderate and colder climates.

“The temperate and alpine house has been closed for at least four years now after its two huge chillers repeatedly developed faults owing to persistent voltage fluctuation,” a garden employee told Dawn on condition of anonymity, adding that the university did not have funds to repair these chillers weighing around 16 tonne each.

The house, he said, also featured flowering species brought from Balochistan.

“We couldn’t save the collection since it required to be kept in a cool environment and it’s too hot most part of the year in Karachi,” he said.

‘We couldn’t save the collection since it required to be kept in a cool environment’

The visit to the garden showed that problems related to electricity and water shortages had also affected other plants as one could see dry patches in its various sections that were once lush green. Its tropical house, though still functioning, had lost its charm.

Sources said the house was renovated in 2014 after it got badly damaged by strong winds.

A research facility

In 2007, KU became the first educational institution in the country to have a botanical garden at a cost of around Rs30 million. Spread over a hillock, the garden dotted with around 2,000 indigenous and exotic plant species stood like an oasis in a city of concrete and chaos.

The aim was to promote scientific research, conservation and public education for visitors on plant diversity.

The whole garden was connected through a 2.75km-long walkway and could be accessed by wheelchair. An open-air theatre was also constructed for educational activities.

The collection at the alpine and temperate house included different species of juniper and fruit trees with plants of tea, olive, Acacia modesta (phulai), Diospyros lotus (amlok), Magnolia grandiflora (bull bay, native to the south-eastern United States) and some plant species donated by Dr Albert Stevens, director of the Berlin Botanical Garden (the second largest botanical garden of Europe).

The garden’s deterioration, sources said, started as the university faced financial constraints and a time came when the facility hardly received any funds for repairs, maintenance and its other important needs. Its energy-efficient waste water treatment plant closed down in 2011.

“We had to close down the temperate and alpine house after its costly chillers broke down,” admitted Dr Anjum Parveen, incharge of the garden, adding that a tender had been awarded for repairs.

She said she hoped that the funding support recently announced by a philanthropist at KU’s flower show would help revive the past glory of the garden.

She, however, insisted that the temperate house had remained closed only for a year or so. “The house closure is not that old. We are thinking of different strategies on how to revive our garden and might go for solar energy option. This time we would install smaller chillers which would help us get our system de-centralised and perform better,” she said.

Published in Dawn, April 23rd, 2018