KARACHI, March 28: Development of a mega commercial project on twin islands near the city will not only displace marginalised communities and deprive them of their livelihoods, but it will also destroy islands ecology that currently supports a wide range of flora and fauna, said environmentalists while sharing their concern with Dawn over official silence on the islands deal.

They said the islands — Bundal and Dingi, also called Buddo — were part of the Indus delta, a Ramsar site and, hence, had a protected status, and had also been declared high priority areas on account of their ecological significance.

The experts feared that if the project under a recently signed agreement, which envisaged construction of a high-end locality on the islands, was not strongly resisted and shelved, more islands would be taken away for commercial ventures.

“Experts have genuine fears. In fact the impact can be much greater as the islands are located close to Karachi. I believe it will be an ecological catastrophe the extent of which one cannot imagine right now,” said Mohammad Moazzam Khan, technical adviser on marine resources with World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

He elaborated that the construction of a harbour in Sonmiani years back had caused soil erosion in built areas of the town and the islands project would have similar effects. “Besides, what about hundreds of lives surviving on subsistence fishing on these islands,” he remarked. Naseer Memon, who heads the Strengthening Participatory Organisation, questioned the need for the ambitious project in a country with high levels of poverty and illiteracy and which had missed all targets for millennium development goals.

“Pakistan has been ranked 146th in a recent human development report. Even Bangladesh is doing better than us. We are nuclear state but lost 500 children to a preventable disease like measles. The country with high infant and maternal mortality rates also has the second largest number of out-of-school children in the world,” he added.

Countries such as Dubai that were frequently referred to by private investors as an example for development didn’t have huge impoverished population jostling for a square meal and clean water, he argued.

“The government needs to first focus on basic issues that could ensure a healthy living for its people,” Mr Memon added.

As for the twin islands, he argued, the government needs to carry out a strategic environment impact assessment as any repercussions of such commercial projects shouldn’t be seen in isolation.

“Implementation of such a project will make 250 to 300 other islands vulnerable to commercial greed,” he feared.

Highlighting adverse ecological impacts, Ghulam Qadir Shah, national coordinator for Mangroves for the Future Programme, an international programme being implemented by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), said that the project would further deteriorate water quality of the area, endangering the marine life.

“In an analysis conducted five years ago, the quality of water surrounding the islands was found extremely degraded. Now one can imagine its current condition, with effluent still being released from Korangi and Port Qasim areas,” he said, adding that three fault lines passing through the coastline made such a venture even more risky.

Reports on islands According to the Compendium Report of High Priority Areas-Pakistan, developed by the IUCN in 2002, the islands are part of Bundal/ Khipranwala/ Muchaka Islands Complex, which is included in the High Priority Areas (HPAs) of Pakistan.

The island complex, spread over an area of 17,850 hectares is located at the western end of the Sindh coastal zone bordered by Korangi, Phitti and Jhari creeks. Bundal Island is one of the biggest islands along the Sindh coast, with a length of about eight kilometres.

The total area under mangroves cover on these islands is 10,000 ha, which represents the habitat for juvenile fish and shrimp in the area. The mangroves stabilise the island and serve as nurseries for shrimp and fish.

The report stated: “The area has great potential for eco-tourism since it has a higher elevation and offers extensive sandy beaches. The pollution discharged from the mainland is swept away by strong water surge in the southern and western parts of the high priority area. It is here that eco-tourism may be developed.

“Furthermore, being situated on the Indus Flyway, the islands offer unique opportunities to bird watchers during the migratory season. They also house a variety of resident birds that may form a tourist attraction. Turtle conservation programmes may be developed along these beaches with egg-laying enclosures for green turtles,” it added.

According to a report prepared by the WWF in 2008, a number of marine cetaceans are distributed in the surrounding waters. Humpback dolphin was recorded as the common species, followed by bottle-nosed dolphin and finless dolphin.

“The open and exposed area of both the islands is the wintering habitat of migratory birds. About 160,000 were counted from the area in winter. Altogether 54 species that included 47 species of water birds and seven species of raptors were recorded,” it stated.

The report recorded various types of sea snakes though no turtle nesting area could be observed — an evidence of the deteriorating ecosystem. “There is previous record of nesting of marine turtle on this island but no evidence of the same could be found in the present study. Instead a dead turtle was found lying in the heap of garbage,” it added.