KARACHI: While the overall cover of mangroves in the Indus delta has increased over the years, Karachi continues to lose these precious “protected” forests on account of land allotment by the Board of Revenue and the Karachi Port Trust.

This was shared during a briefing organised on Wednesday on the conservation of mangrove forests and their future outlook at the WWF Wetland Centre for visiting members of the Senate Standing Committee on Climate Change.

Led by the committee’s chairperson Senator Seemee Ezdi, the team included Senator Dr Mohammad Hamayun Mohmand, Senator Khalida Ateeb and Senator Abida Muhammad Azeem.

WWF Pakistan Director General Hammad Naqi Khan briefed the committee on the climate vulnerability of Pakistan and highlighted the importance of the Indus delta region and mangroves conservation.

Forest official says Indus delta mangrove cover has increased to 240,000 hectares this year

He shared that ecologically, mangrove forests were the top habitat for biodiversity as they created a defence system against natural disasters such as tsunami, cyclones and sea storms.

In his presentation, the chief conservator of the forest department, Riaz Ahmed Wagan, discussed the role of his department in the conservation of mangroves and its future outlook, including environmental and economic benefits.

According to him, the mangrove cover in the Indus delta has increased from 160,000 hectares in 2010 to 240,000 hectares this year on account of the conservation, plantation and rehabilitation efforts by the forest department, World Wide Fund for Nature-Pakistan and International Union for Conservation of Nature.

“Unfortunately, however, the mangroves surrounding Karachi have shrunk from 2,000 hectares in 2010 to 1,800 hectares today mainly due to land allotment,” he said, regretting that destruction of mangroves continued despite their protected status and action by the forest department against offenders.

The areas of the Indus delta, he pointed out, had increased due to sea intrusion from 600,000 hectares in 2010 to 667,000 hectares today.

About future plans, he said the department aimed to increase the total mangrove area to 500,000 hectares in coming years.

Senior Manager Conservation WWF Sindh Altaaf Sheikh provided the committee with a detailed overview of WWF programmes in Pakistan.

Sharing details on the mangroves conservation approach, he said that WWF Pakistan was currently working on 18 different landscapes, from mountains to mangroves.

The Indus delta, he told the meeting, was the fifth largest arid ecosystem and hosted the seventh largest mangrove forest in the world.

He described the socioeconomic aspects of the Indus delta and said that the delta contributed 98 per cent of shrimp catch and more than 77pc of marine fish catch.

He also spoke on the challenges of the shrinkage of the Indus delta region due to sea intrusion and soil erosion. He noted that clearing of mangrove forest land for its commercial use had worsened deforestation, leading to loss of biodiversity.

Speaking to the media, the visiting senators emphasised the importance of introducing and sustaining both short- and long-term nature-based solutions to encourage mangrove conservation efforts and measures that were globally known to sustain and empower such programmes for a greener future.

Published in Dawn, October 12th, 2023