Urban flooding in Islamabad: Sindh’s agri infrastructure, livestock, economy grow into risk: WWF

KARACHI: The agricultural infrastructure, livestock and economy grew into risk in Sindh after the recent monsoon torrential rains flooding Islamabad and streaming subsequently into Indus River, the WWF-Pakistan said on Wednesday.

The major area of Sindh remained at risk is that of the riversides, as WWF-Pakistan also sees the phenomenon of climate change for adversely impacting the leather and textile sectors of the country.

“The recent urban flooding in parts of Islamabad and torrential waters in Kachho, Sindh have damaged infrastructure, economy, agriculture and have led to livestock mortality,” Hammad Naqi Khan, Director General, WWF-Pakistan said.

At the same time, he witnessed the changing climate had a negative effect on the country’s leather and textile sectors, as both have a significant share in the GDP of Pakistan.

The livelihood of livestock herders and cotton farmers have been seriously affected from the unavailability of freshwater, varying temperature and uncertain rainfall patterns in the last two decades, he said.

Farmers often struggle with a seed suitability and usually remain in a need water for cotton crops, which they do not find on time or in required volume that make them suffer the most from changes in climate.

It is reported that the textile and leather sectors supported more than 15 million families in Pakistan and are key drivers of Pakistan’s economy.

Leather and textile industries exhibit a potentially resource-intensive process with freshwater use, discharge of wastewater and effluents posing a serious threat to the environment and habitats.

However, these industries could adopt alternative energy options and better water management strategies to reduce their carbon footprint and improve their production. WWF-Pakistan believed that both sectors possess a significant potential for conserving environmental resources.

To reduce the use of freshwater and hazardous chemicals and support industries in sustainable production, WWF-Pakistan in collaboration with the International Labour Organization (ILO) is implementing a project titled “International Labour and Environmental Standards Application in Pakistan’s SMEs (ILES)”.

The project focuses on promoting sustainable production and plans to mobilize and build the capacity of more than 500 textile and leather industries in Pakistan. This six-year project, funded by the European Union (EU) is being implemented in Karachi, Lahore, Sialkot and Faisalabad.

Sharing his thoughts, Sohail Ali Naqvi, Senior Manager ILES and Head of Freshwater Programme, WWF-Pakistan said that textile and leather industries in Pakistan have broad prospects for improved environmental compliance which can leverage the economic benefits of the European Union’s Generalized Scheme of Preferences (GSP plus).

In this regard, after four years of auditing industries in the two sectors, the ILES project has now developed a business case for environmental compliance as well as other project successes including water replenishment initiatives (recharge wells) and nature-based solutions (floating treatment wetlands).

These will provide a plethora of benefits such as reducing environmental and supply-chain risks, driving internal innovation and reshaping future industry trends.

He added that they are actively disseminating the business case in SMEs to encourage sustainable consumption and production practices.

To shift industries to sustainable production, WWF-Pakistan’s ILES project has built the capacity of 250 professionals on smart environmental management practices.

As a result, a total of 21 SMEs (16 textile and five leather) reduced their annual emissions by 23,967 tonnes of CO2 and saved 4,447,804 kWh energy.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021