KARACHI, May 21: Shamsul Haq Memon, Secretary Forest, Wildlife and Environment, has said that due to environmental damages, the economy is suffering an estimated loss of $1.8 billion annually.

He stated this while inaugurating a seminar on “Connecting Business & the Environment, An Update on Industrial Ecology”, organized by Foundation for Progress, in collaboration with the FPCCI and Ministry of Industry, Labour & Environment, at FPCCI Auditorium on Saturday.

He said major sectors which contribute to this loss are urban air pollution ($369m), Municipal, Social/Liquid waste ($883m) soil loss (crop land degradation) ($357m), range land degradation ($125m) deforestation ($28m) and destruction of mangrove forests ($15.7m).

He said that the environmental issues were not only changing over time but are posing a challenge, both at regional and global levels.

He said it was remorse over the fact that these vital issues have so far been neglected. Many institutional policies and regulatory development had been made to reverse accelerating trend of environmental degradation in the country by introducing protection, conservation and abatement projects but with limited success.

He said it is our responsibility to protect environment, welfare and health of our future generations and for achieving this, concerted efforts and action are needed with involvement of all key stake-holders, including government, private sectors, industry and business, NGOs, the people and the communities at large.

He blamed paucity of resources, policy ineffectiveness and corruption for hampered environmental efforts. A meagre amount of $17 million is being spent annually against $84 million needed to address environmental problems.

The secretary highlighted the importance of the participation of industrial sectors in achieving sustainability.

Dr M.A. Wajid, Chairman and President Foundation of Progress, in his presentation highlighted the root causes of environmental problems.

Zafar Chaudhry, Dr Noman Fazal Qadir and Dr Mansoor Ali Khawaja also presented their presentations.

Minister for Environment, Forest & Wildlife Hassan Ali Channio, Secretary Ministry of Industry, Labour & Transport Raja Abbass, Chairman Trade, Fair Authority Group 77 Chamber of Commerce & Industry Tariq Sayyed, KCCI President Haroon Bari, Secretary General FPCCI Anwarul ul Haq and many others also spoke while the seminar was attended by a large number of business executives, engineers, managers from industry and commerce.