Monday, February 22, 2010

Rising Sea level may flood Badin and Thatta districts

The experts have called for serious approach by the government and civil society towards changing climate and its effects especially that of rising sea level apprehending that sea intrusion might erase from the map two coastal districts of Badin and Thatta if urgent and concrete steps were not taken.

Speaking at a training workshop on "Changing climate and its effects on Sea-belt" here last evening, the experts said that entire coastal belt of Sindh including Karachi is under threat.

Larr Humanitarian Development Program had organised the workshop.
Dr Pervez A Pathan of Sindh Development Studies Centre, Sindh University, said that the Sea is fast eroding and intruding Sindh lands with the result that the provincial coastal belt, which used to be 200km, has now escalated to 350km.

Since the required water is not released to sea, the process of sea intrusion continues damaging the agriculture in millions of acres area. The temperature level has also shot up from 35 to 38 degrees centigrade due to increasing global warming while there has also been registered an increase in tree-cutting, which have affected the climate, he said.

Prof Shahab Mughal from same Centre in his address said he apprehends the rising sea level would erase entire Badin and half the Thatta district in next 40 to 50 years.

Fida Hussain Soomro of LHDP informed that hardly 2,66,000 acres of land out of 11,33,000 was currently under cultivation in Badin district owing to degradation of land and water shortage.

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