Speakers say country facing environmental threats to agriculture, food security

Speakers have emphasised on concerted efforts to achieve maximum food security curtailing its wastage besides, reining in the growing environmental problems being faced by the country. The country is facing dangerous environmental threats which are harmful for our agricultural sector and adding to food insecurity.
The situation demands serious efforts for protection of available food sources, said the speakers while addressing the gathering on World Environment Day 2013on Wednesday. Ministry of Climate Change, Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) and International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) observed the World Environment Day in collaboration with WWF-Pakistan, Pakistan Water Partnership, UNESCO and Pakistan Science Foundation at the National Agriculture Research Centre (NARC) on Wednesday. The theme for this year's is 'Think Save Reduce Your Food Print.' The theme is very important for food deficit countries of the world as the idea is to minimise the food wastage.
Dr Iftikhar Ahmad chairman NARAC speaking on the occasion said that issue of reducing food losses is of high importance in the efforts to fight against hunger, raise income and improve food security in the world's poorest countries. Food losses have an impact on food security, food quality and safety along with economic development and environment, he said.
He said that food losses indicate waste of resources used in production such as land, water, energy and inputs. Producing food that will not be consumed leads to unnecessary CO2 emissions in addition to loss of economic value of the food produced, he said. The NARAC chairman said that roughly one-third of food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted globally, which amounts to about 1.3 billion tons per year.
Syed Muhammad Ali Gardezi, secretary, ministry of Climate Change said that Pakistan is celebrating the World Environment Day with an aim to address the environmental problems. The theme of this year's "Think, Eat, Save" urges us to make concrete efforts to think and save the food which we grow, consume and dispose of in our daily routine.
He said that the main objective of this day to inform the people about huge impact on the human beings and their environment due to wastage of large scale food throughout the world.
Dr Ghulam Akbar said that WWF-Pakistan is part of the WWF global network that aims at conserving world's biodiversity while reducing the negative impacts of human footprints. We conserve natural resources by promoting their sustainable use and minimising the wasteful use of renewable resources, he said.
He said that we believe in reducing pollution and wasteful consumption of natural wealth to keep environment clean and maintain the ecological balance for efficient functioning of ecosystem. Message of David Molden, DG (ICIMOD) was read on the occasion that stories of climate change, glaciers melting, landslides, and water scarcity overload our every day lives. The stories of environmental degradation are so overwhelming that there is a sense that we cannot really do anything about it. Yet, there are many things that each of us can do, and one that we might not think about so much is the consequences of our food habits.
Dr Kozue Kay Nagata, Country Director (Unesco) said the focus of this year's campaign is "Think, Eat, Save", that encourages every human being to be conscious of food waste, so that we could reduce our food-print. According to UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), every year 1.3 billion tons of food is wasted. This is equivalent to the amount produced in sub-Saharan Africa Dr Muhammad Azeem, DG NARC, Dr Manzoor Hussain Soomro, Chairman PSF, Dr Abdul Jasra, Country Representative (ICIMOD), Dr Pervaiz Amir Representative (PWP) and others also spoke on the occasion.