Speakers at a “people’s assembly” advised the government to confront the effects of changing weather patterns rather than blaming climate change.
In order to prevent impending floods, they urged the restoration of natural waterways and the removal of obstructions in their way. They also claimed that the region’s rising temperatures had caused the spring season to vanish.
They were speaking at the assembly, which the South Asia Partnership organized on Monday at the local press club and covered “Impact of Climate Change and Solutions.”
They were concerned that drought would also affect Thar as a result of climate change, saying that the Sindh government needed to reevaluate its drought planning.
They said that besides floods, the government should also not be unmindful of drought and the fact that it hit hard women and children. It should therefore ensure proper planning in this regard, they said.
Prof Ismail Kumbhar said that devastations wrought by last year’s flood were not only caused by climate change but also by the closure of old courses of waterways. If natural waterways had been active destructions on such a large scale would not have occurred, he said.
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He said that such was the height of irresponsibility that even Bahria Town was established on the course of an old waterway. Linking 2022 devastations with human laxity, water could not be drained yet despite a lapse of six months, he said.
He said that rising temperatures in the region had made the spring season disappear and the world was talking about focusing on clean energy, considering coal-based energy ‘dirty’.
He said that recourse to clean energy could help the government face climate change but “we are opting for dirty one”. Forty percent of children under five years of age faced stunting due to consumption of substandard food as per a report, he said. He said that different varieties of crops could be grown in Sindh if people-friendly planning was made for the agriculture sector. Reports indicated that Thar would face drought in the wake of rise in temperature, he said.
Ghulam Mustafa Ujjan, the senior engineer in the irrigation department, explained with the help of a presentation that Sindh received water from glacial melt rainfall from upcountry as per natural process, therefore natural waterways needed to be kept clear.
He said that the Indus delta faced destruction due to inadequate flows and claimed Badin was just 33 feet above sea level and Ghotki in upper Sindh was 200ft above the sea which showed the kind of gradient that was not helpful in disposing of water into sea quickly, he said.
He said that water was still standing in Khairpur, Gambat, Sanghar, Mirpurkhas and Dadu districts. Leaving everything to engineers could not improve the drainage system as the entire civil society would have to play its role to improve things, he said, adding that 13 drainage projects were designed and billions were spent but the problem remained unresolved.
He said that Left Bank Outfall Drain’s design remained faulty as it blocked the course of natural waterways whereas Shakoor Lake was disconnected from natural waterways that used to fall into it. Sindh was blessed with a natural drainage system from Ghotki to the sea which “we have destroyed”. Even British colonial rulers had realized the importance of this natural drainage system and left ample room courses of natural waterways to avoid obstruction. Today, he said, projects for roads did not care for the waterways whose land had been allotted to people in many cases.
Story adapted from Dawn
