Saving Karachi's green cover

Thanks to concerned citizens, as many as 1,400 trees bordering a park in Karachi's Clifton area have been saved. A two-member bench of the Sindh High Court has granted stay on two private citizens petition against the Sindh government, Karachi Metropolitan Corporation and Sindh Environmental Protection Agency for the planned felling of trees lining the periphery of the three-acre park. That was to be done to make way for advertising billboards and hoardings as well as commercial parking spaces to earn revenue.
This is not the only instance reflective of the provincial government's utter disregard for the environment. A press report points out that during the last year, thousands of trees in different parts of the city were torn down to create space for construction projects and other money generating schemes. Last April, mangrove forests in the Port Qasim area faced destruction for the construction of a coal-based power project even though they are protected under a provincial law. Already these forests - a natural boundary between the sea and river waters and a vital part of the marine ecosystem - have shrunk considerably to 105,000 hectares.
Such greed-driven projects should be unacceptable no matter what the excuse might be. In a city that already has a sparse green cover, wanton destruction of trees amounts to criminal activity. Trees, needless to say, aside from providing aesthetic relief, are the single most important way of countering environmental degradation and providing a habitat for the flora and fauna. The tree cover not only ought to be preserved but also enhanced to counter the effects of greenhouse emissions from industrial activity and ever-growing vehicular traffic. The immediate challenge is to prevent greedy land developers and colluding government officials from destroying the city's small green canopy. These people will not stop until the civil society plays a proactive role, like two private citizens did in the present instance. Similarly, citizens in Lahore have been battling the administration's effort to remove trees lining the canal road to further widen a sufficiently large space for traffic.
Such mindless schemes, besides the greed factor, also show that our urban planners lack the necessary sensitivity towards far-reaching implications for the environment. It is difficult to imagine, however, that in this day and age well-qualified professionals would be unaware of the need to give due attention to environmental sustainability. The problem is the government leaders' tendency to assign such projects to whosoever on the basis of favouritism rather than merit. Which is why more often than not decision-makers such as those behind the Karachi park tree cutting plan or the Lahore Canal road widening project, lack the interest or ability to take into account ecological impact of their plans. Things being what they are, the best hope to save our cities' green cover rests on the shoulders of civil society groups/individuals. The other hope is the courts. They need to take up the issue where and when it arises by taking suo motu notices in the public interest.