I GREW up watching a small park near my house slowly disappear. First, a boundary wall was built, then a dhaba, then a developer’s sign. Today, it is a plaza with glossy tiles. Nobody protested. Nobody noticed. Karachi has been at war with its own land for decades. We keep encroaching and then wonder why streets flood every time it rains. We pave over soil and wonder why the heat is increasing. We cut mangroves for housing schemes and then wonder why the coast erodes. The answers have always been in the land beneath us. Degraded soil absorbs less rainwater. Fewer trees mean more heat. Lost biodiversity means the insects and birds that quietly sustain our ecosystem simply vanish.

Crowded cities have enforced green space laws, restored coastlines, and committed to urban reforestation. Karachi, too, can do that. The government must enforce existing protections. Encroach-ments must carry real penalties. And the mangrove forests must be protected.

Sarah Macarthur
Karachi

Published in Dawn, July 9th, 2026