PESHAWAR, April 26: Speakers at a seminar here on Thursday stressed the need for concerted efforts to protect bio-diversity from global warming.

The day-long seminar on ‘Global Warming’ was organised by the NWFP Wildlife Department to mark the World Earth Day.

On the occasion NWFP Wildlife Department’s Chief Conservator Dr Mumtaz Malik said that due to global warming the sea level was gradually rising as a result of melting of glaciers and other climatic changes.

He said: “If we failed in combating (the threat of) global warming in time, there is every possibility of drought and floods at the global level.”

The chief of the wildlife department underscored the need for increasing forest and vegetation cover, protection of habitats of wild species, reduction of green house gases, establishment of protected areas on large tracts of nature landscape and implementation of existing laws to minimise the effects of global warming.

Gul Muhammad Khan, Conservator of Forests and in-charge of the Watershed Management Project in Abbottabad, said the phenomena of global warming emerged after the Industrial Revolution when industries started producing carbon dioxide on a massive scale. He said the developed countries were providing funds to the underdeveloped countries for developing environment- and forestry-related sectors.

The government was focusing on bring a large area under plantation, he said, adding that about 80,000 saplings had been planted over 1,700 acres under the Watershed

Management Project, launched with the financial assistance of the federal ministry of environment.

This increase resulted in a phenomenal 33 per cent forest and vegetative cover in upland areas of Hazara and Malakand Divisions. He praised Wapda and the World Food Programme for providing funds to execute the project.

Shamsur Rehman, EPA official, said that efforts were being made to reduce carbon monoxide from 17 parts per million (ppm) to WHO’s standard of 9ppm.