KARACHI, Jan 29: An environment activist has called for the linkage of forestation in big cities with sanitation as a measure to ensure that minimum possible pollutants find their way in to the sea and the rivers.
Nargis Latif, chief executive of the NGO, Gul Bahao, made these suggestions while speaking at the weekly meeting of a rotary club at a local hotel on Sunday.
In her talk, Ms Latif referred to the different fora that had issued warnings about the dangers involved to the Karachi Port and Port Qasim due to the pollution caused by the city’s sewerage system.
“It is time to stop sewage from polluting the sea and rivers and make sure that the sewerage system is totally decentralised and wastewater is dealt with on as and where basis. This can only be done if trees and shrubs are grown along the sewerage drains to suck up the dirty water,” said Ms Latif.
She said forestation in the cities should be linked with sanitation. And fast growing trees should be planted and grown. These trees should be chopped at regular intervals to make room for more trees while plantations should take place throughout the year.
“This practice will enable us to use gutter water for shrubs and trees so that minimum possible of its quantity falls into the rivers and seas.”She also suggested that nurseries and gardens be encouraged to use sewage water as much as possible while the use of freshwater should be discouraged.
Ms Latif also spoke about recycling refuse and making it useful. She pointed out that her organisation had come up with innovations which she called “Karachi’s gift to the world.” These innovations included alternate housing (prefabricated housing made from plastic waste), alternate energy, garbage ‘n gold bank, a water purifying technique etc. “We are making history,” she said
According to her, Gul Bahao had spent more than 30 million rupees on such innovations.
She said interest was shown by local entrepreneurs, real estate investors and businessmen in the ‘Chandi Ghar’ or prefabricated housing. A businessman had ordered a warehouse be made in Landhi and had also offered to market Chandi Ghar in future.
Ms Latif said people in interior Sindh had shown keen interest in these houses because of easy availability of land as well as the ease of establishing such structures.
“The latest development in this innovation is its insulation quality. These houses are very cool in summer and warm in winter due to extensive use of aluminum foil.”
Ahmed Ghulam Hussein, secretary of the rotary club, introducing her said she was a life fellow of Ashoka Foundation, a US-based NGO and her activities had been widely covered by local and international media.