Water conservation only remedy to avert drought till 2025: Sherry Rehman

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Climate Change Senator Sherry Rehman on Wednesday said the whooping impacts of climate change were putting pressure on the country’s water resources that need to be conserved as it could cause drought in the country till 2025.

The Federal Minister released a short documentary of over two-minute elaborating the environmental hazards faced by the country due to global warming and climate change.

Sherry said the environmental crisis has become the biggest challenge of the 21st century. “Environmental degradation has become a crisis for the entire world and Pakistan has come in the fore front of environmental crisis. We will have to consider that Pakistan is simultaneously facing three crisis of climate change, nature degradation and rising pollution”, she underlined.

The Minister in the short documentary precisely highlighted the multifaceted risks of natural calamities faced by the country.

“We will have to protect our water resources, rivers, oceans, air and land from increasing pollution. Our rivers are not only our assets but a guarantee to our food, economy and ecology’s survival. If we failed to protect our rivers then Pakistan will face water scarcity by 2025,” she said.

“We are witnessing abnormal rise in temperature, forest fires, heat waves, drought smog, and other environmental issues from our bare eyes”, she said.

The Minister highlighted that three cities of Pakistan namely Jacobabad, Dadu and Turbat have been recorded the hottest cities in the past three years.

Due to temperature rise, she said the country has also witnessed a glacial lake outburst flood at Shisper Glacier, adding, “at one side our glaciers are melting rapidly and on the other hand our rivers are drying up.”
Pakistan, she said only contributed less than one percent to global GHG emissions but these emissions had created a climate crisis for us.

“If we did not control the impacts of climate change then it will become a serious risk for our coming generations”, she added.

Safe, clean and healthy environment was only possible when every citizen would ensure his or her moral and national responsibilities, the minister said.

She concluded her message on the note saying, “We all have only one planet and should protect every living creature on it. Do not delay, protect environment for your present and future.