KARACHI, July 25: The Sindh Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) will sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (Suparco) within the next couple of days to seek its technical and professional support on environment issues.

This was stated by Sindh Adviser on Environment and Alternate Energy Mohammad Noman Saigal while speaking at the inaugural session of a 5-day training course on “Environment monitoring” here on Monday.

The course has been organized by the Inter-Islamic Network on Space Science and Technology (INSET) and Suparco. It has been participated by scientists and technologists from various organizations of Algeria, Indonesia, Jordan, Kyrgyz Republic and Uganda besides Pakistan.

The adviser said that the government was very much concerned over the fast degradation of environment as it would also badly affect the economic growth of the country.

He said that the developing and under developing countries would have to control the deteriorating environment conditions for their survival. Sindh government would be playing a leading role on this front and we would bring physical changes within the next few months in the province.

Mr Saigal said that his department had initiated various schemes to assess the quality of air and water and was working out plans to preserve and improve the environment including marine life and eco system.

However, he said, all this could be done through enhanced people-government partnership, and collaboration with the local and foreign organizations involved in research and up gradation of environment in various sectors.

The adviser also sought cooperation of the international donor agencies towards this serious challenge to human survival.

Private sector should be encouraged to enter joint ventures; preferably on build, operate and transfer (BOT) basis, he urged.

He praised Suparco for conducting research and studies on various environmental issues specially air and water pollution, and providing technical and professional support to the SEPA in checking pollution.

The adviser added that Sindh would be the first province to adopt and execute recommendations from local and foreign research organizations on the preservation and up gradation of environment.

Mr Saigal said he believed in physical achievement instead of piling up of ideas and proposals.

He underlined the need for promoting awareness amongst the society at all levels through various means i.e. schools and colleges, media and sign boards.

To a question regarding the disposal of municipal waste, Mr Saigal said that landfill sites were the main problem in this connection, which would be resolved soon.

Speaking on the occasion, Suparco Chairman Major-General Raza Hassan said that natural resources contributed to the economic growth of a country.

He said that resource-intensive development pattern and rapid population growth hade put enormous strain on natural resources, leading to serious degradation in many areas.

For example, environmental factors such as exposure to waterborne diseases, indoor and outdoor air pollution, and toxic agro-industrial chemicals account for about 20 per cent of the world’s total burden of diseases, the chairman added.

He said that global warming, depletion of the ozone layer, and destruction of the world’s rain forests were the problems that many experts believed would reach critical proportions in the coming decades.

Mr Hassan said that acid rains had made numerous lakes so acidic that they no longer supported fish population. Other problems that may develop include a rise in sea levels that would completely inundate a number of low-lying island nations and flood many coastal cities.

When his attention was drawn to sea intrusion in lower Sindh, the Suparco chief said it was an international issue which needed coordinated efforts amongst the governments and local, regional and international research organizations.

He said that however, Suparco had already carried out studies on the issue along with various other environment issues like mangroves, and forwarded to the concerned authorities of the federal government.

Mr Hassan acknowledged the proactive role of the Sindh environment and alternate energy department under the leadership of Mohammad Noman Saigal on environment issues.

He pointed out that more funds were required to accelerate research and to take corrective steps for the preservation and up gradation of environment.

The Director-General of INSET, Irshad H. Siraj, said this course would play a vital role in the enhancement of space science and technology applications and related human resource development in the Muslim countries.—APP