Vehicular traffic worsening air pollution situation

Air pollution situation has worsened in the country due to a sharp rise in vehicular traffic since 1990. The other root causes of environmental problems in Pakistan are growing population, increasing rural-urban migration and a lack of awareness.
These issues can only be resolved if the government prioritises environment and increases its budgetary allocation for the environment in the MTDF from the present minimal levels.
A greater budgetary allocation along with the recently promulgated strategies of Clean Drinking Water for All, National Drinking Water and Sanitation Policy as well as promotion of CNG as vehicle fuel can put Pakistan on the path to environmental sustainability.
The MDGs targets for clean potable water and sanitation depend on the success of the government's plan to provide clean drinking water to all and at present seems a great challenge.
However, plans to regularise most slum areas in line with MDG targets are likely to be successful. A healthy and safe environment is a much-cherished public good of every society as it enables people to lead healthy lives and thus contribute to productivity. The significance of environment was admitted explicitly and internationally at the UN Millennium Declaration 2000.
MDG No 7 explicitly makes ensuring environmental sustainability one of the goals developing nations must achieve until 2015. Since then the efforts to provide safe and healthy environment have got special focus of the government.
Pakistan has taken some steps towards addressing environmental issues more effectively, the most significant of which was the making of the National Environmental Policy in 2005.
Despite this development, Pakistan's environmental indicators remain dismal. According to the Pakistan Millennium Development Goals Report 2005, Pakistan's forest cover has not changed from 4.1 million hectares since 1990.
Pakistan's forests also face the threat of rapid deforestation and the main reason for this trend is the rise in demand of wood for fuel amongst poorer people and an intense commercial clearing of forests.