SWAT: The health department has set up 13 vaccination camps at the entry points of the Swat district to achieve 100 per cent inoculation target against Covid-19.

Briefing media persons, deputy commissioner Junaid Khan said the points were established as part of the compulsory Covid vaccination in the district.

He said two vaccination points were set up each in Babuzai, Matta, Khawazakhela and Kabal tehsils, one each in Bahrain and Charbagh and three in Barikot.

Mr Junaid said unvaccinated people won’t be allowed entry to Swat and from one tehsil to another.

Seminar held

The department of economics and development studies of the University of Swat organised a seminar on Wednesday to deliberate upon the findings of a project ‘analysis of ecological footprint in rural-urban areas of Swat’, which was awarded by the Higher Education Commission under the National Research Programme for Universities (NRPU).

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Anwar Hussain, the chairman of economics and development studies department, pointed out that the EF (ecological footprint) had six components, including cropland, carbon land, grazing land, fishing grounds, forest land and built-up land. “Trends in ecological resources in Swat show that the bare soil, rock, water bodies and snow covers are declining while the built-up land is increasing over time,” he said.

Prof Hussain, who was the guest speaker, said the increasing number of livestock also added to the environmental burden while the increasing population was also one of the key factors responsible for increasing EF in Swat.

“The increasing number of vehicles is also causing carbon emissions and ultimately raising the total EF,” he said, adding due to overpopulation hatcheries and grazing areas were decreasing, negatively impacting the EF.

He said as a whole, Swat was experiencing ecological overshooting which required careful utilisation and conservation of natural capital.

He urged people to adopt environment-friendly lifestyles to reduce burden on environment.

Published in Dawn, November 11th, 2021