Pakistani Youth for Climate Change

United4Climate Pakistani Youth for Climate Change

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Pakistani Youth for Climate Change was produced by the United Nations Information Centre Islamabad Project Coordinator: Vittorio Cammarota Producer: Anna Saksagon Editor: Waqas Rafique Graphic Designer: Mirko Neri

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FOREWORD H.E. Ms. Margaret Adamson, High Commissioner, Australia To mark the 70th anniversary of the UN (UN70), the Australian High Commission in Pakistan has been pleased to work with the UN Information Centre (UNIC) to build awareness on climate change among Pakistani youth.

Australia has played an active role in the UN throughout its rich history. As a foundation member of the UN, Australia was involved in drafting the UN Charter in 1945, and served as the first President of the Security Council in 1946. Almost 65,000 Australian deployees have served in UN international peace operations, frequently alongside Pakistan deployees. We have also led efforts to strengthen global security and to promote gender equality, human rights, liberalised international trade and the rule of law.

In this spirit, Australia is committed to working with countries to achieve a strong and effective global climate agreement at the COP21 climate negotiations When it comes to climate change Australia and Pakistan have much in common. We are both countries with large agriculture sectors that often suffer from both floods and drought, which are exacerbated by climate change. We both have diverse climates and understand what it means to live and work in a water scarce environment.

Pakistan’s large youth population is already a key actor in managing Pakistan’s response to climate change and in protecting your environment for the future. This project provides an insight into the some of the challenges imposed by climate change on Pakistan’s youth, along with some excellent ideas for future action.

I am sure this book of essays and drawings will be a valuable resource for Pakistan and for other members of the Framework Convention on Climate Change.

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FOREWORD H.E. Ms. Martine Dorance, Ambassador, France In the run-up to the Paris Climate Conference, the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, I am very happy to contribute to this beautiful project initiated by UNIC-Pakistan, which gathers essays and drawings of the Pakistani youth.

Climate change is one of the most serious threats to humanity as a whole. Given the urgency, strong action and solidarity are needed to preserve our planet as a livable place for future generations.

In this sense, this initiative is timely to sensitize those below 25 years old which represent 63% of the Pakistani population. It also shows the commitment of the Pakistani youth to step up the fight against climate change and makes its voices heard globally. Considering the challenges, and the huge task to be achieved, ambitious educational programs will also be needed to keep each of our countries on the right path for the generations to come.

As President of the COP21, France is very much focusing on youth by highlighting its role. In that sense, the COY11, the 11th Conference of Youth that takes place in Paris prior to the COP21 and includes youth from all over the world, including Pakistan, is contributing to the global efforts with its own Solutions Agenda proposals.

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FOREWORD Hammad Naqi Khan, Director General, WWF-Pakistan Pakistan is one of the top three countries affected by climate change and its consequences, despite not being a major contributor to the issue. It is grappling with a number of environmental issues such as floods, tropical cyclones, heat waves, shifting rainfall and river flow patterns, declining groundwater levels, droughts, expanding desertification, aridity and sea level rise. From the 2012 floods alone, Pakistan faced a loss of USD 6 billion, equivalent to one per cent of its GDP. The COP21 climate conference being held in Paris in December 2015, is a clarion call for governments to heed to the demands of citizens of the world for a sustainable future, to mitigate the impacts of climate change, and to move towards a low carbon economy. We must ensure that world leaders make decisions that are crucial for our combined future. Therefore, it is necessary that our voice be heard at the COP21 conference.

Every individual counts, and we are proud to be part of this publication which gives voice to the youth of Pakistan. By creating awareness about the issue among students and the youth we are hopeful that the leaders of tomorrow will be able to tackle the issue in a better manner than we have done.

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FOREWORD Mr. Ahmad Alhendawi, UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy on Youth More than ever before, we need meaningful partnerships and engagement of youth to achieve environmental sustainability. In countries such as Pakistan, which are severely impacted by drought cycles, the contributions of young people in combatting climate change are of particular importance. The Sustainable Development Goals and the discussions in the COP21 are historical commitments, and it is now our job to ensure they are fully implemented. I encourage all young people to do their part – take advantage of green job opportunities, create and design new environmentally friendly solutions to problems in your community, and encourage governments worldwide to take action for a more sustainable future.

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INTRODUCTION Vittorio Cammarota, Director, United Nations Information Centre In recent times it has been evident that the most valuable asset any nation could possess is the youth among its population. We at UNIC believe in the power that the youth harnesses to drive social change anywhere in the world. UNIC has been investing in youth for a long time. In Pakistan we see youth as its present and not just the future and that is why we strongly believe in involving young Pakistanis in our work. Climate Change is a global common challenge which is unquestionably changing the reality the world over. Pakistan became part of the global conversation on climate change last September with the Climate Summit Pakistan, organized together with the COMSATS Centre for Climate Research, when the participants discussed the challenges and needs in the local context.

However it is important that the discourse continues to boost meaningful ways to tackle the issue because the country is dealing with severe consequences of climate change every year in the form of draughts and floods. Pakistan has the biggest youth population and so we would like to ensure that Pakistani youth has equal opportunity with others to share their voices in the global arena and foster the dialogue and action on climate change in Pakistan.

We want to specially thank Australian Aid and the French Embassy for their great contribution to the project and WWF Pakistan for their valuable support.

Last but no least, our gratitude goes to youth of Pakistan for the inspiriting role they played for developing this publication: we are confident that their thoughts and suggestions will inspire many young people from Pakistan and abroad and, ultimately, contribute to better preserve our planet.

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ESSAYS

Climate Change!

Syeda Javeria Zahid, 13 years old, The City School Islamabad

Climate is changing everywhere, due to our actions. First of all what is climate?

Climate is the weather of a country recorded for a 30 years or more. Weather changes every day but climate is the main temperature of a country.

The climate of the world is changing, and causes natural disasters. Natural disasters are being caused because we do not prevent climate changes. We have to take action now or we will have even bigger problem in the future due to climate changes. We can take action is plant more trees stop deforestation for every tree we cut we should plant a new. We can use reuseable products, like fabric or paper shopping bags, not plastic bags. Factories can stop dumping wastes in rivers, lakes. Saving Wild life can be one action.

There Is Motto ‘Prevention is better than cure’, this means that always care is not the best choice if we prevent something from happening won’t see a cure at all. We can prevent stuff from happening, Stuff like climate change. We can use bicycles instead of cars. We can prevent floods from happening by planting trees. We can prevent dumping wastes into the ocean to keep the marain life safe and sea clean.

We can also take precautions against all of this we can have fully charged phones. If we are in a situation related to floods. We should also have aradi we should also plant trees and we should help stums of floods, earthquake etc.

So we should take action before it’s too late. We have to help ourselves, we have to start making the world a better because were, are the future, if we don’t take action, if we don’t care, and become ignorant. Who? Who will make the world a better place? Who will take action if not us if not the future, so, take action towards climate change.

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Hareeza Asad

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Raha Sikander

Zehra Tahir

Climate Changes in Pakistan Varisha Raja, 15 years old, the City School Islamabad Pakistan has a great diversity of biological climate changes,and as a citizen of Pakistan,I have witnessed these climate changes change into disasters,destroying million of lives in the process.

From the melting of glaciers,which cause flood in Indus plains to the scarcity of water in thar desert which lead to desertification and droughts.

Dividing it into provincial levels,Balochistan has a very high evapo transportation rate,and a very less rainfall,so the land is rocky,barren and most of the arable land is destroyed due to desertifications.

In Sindh,droughts and floods are experienced which are ironically two paradoxes,but they are naturally two major natural disasters.

Punjab has crops destroyed to floods, and lives are lost annually.

KPK has a lot of issues, with also the refugees settling, from Afganistan, and the IDPs. All in all the people of Pakistan should unite in effort to reduce the effects of these natural disasters,saving lives and money.

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Abdul Mutaal, 14 years old, the City School, Islamabad

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Syeda Javeria Zahid, 13 years old, The City School Islamabad

Amal Hussain, 20 years old, COMSATS University, Islamabad

Why it is important to talk and act on climate change?

Sikandar Ali Khan, 18 years, Roots Ivy school Islamabad Climate change is an important issue that must be addressed by all nations. It is certainly one of this century’s greatest destabilizing forces which undermines our global economy, threatens our health and increasingly leads to military conflict.

Climate change topics include sustainable agriculture, energy security, climate related conflict and climate negotiations and agreements.

Flooding and storms show us just how much weather and climate can affect our lives. Understanding and predicting what the coming monsoon just might bring, Or predicting how climate will change over the next century is vital importance both for our economy and for society.

Weather and climate can affect almost all aspects of our lives. With global warming on the increase and speies and their habitats on the decrease, chances for ecosystem to adopt naturally are diminishing.

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Arslan, Islamabad

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Atia Shaheen& Sidra Bibi, Islamabad

Boy Scouts Association, Quetta

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Maryam Durrani, 16 years old, Roots Ivy school, Islamabad Reduce, Reuse, Recycle;Three great ways you can eliminate waste and protect your environment. Waste, and how we choose to handle it, affects our world’s environment, That’s your environment. The environment is everything around you including the air, water, land, plants and man-made things. To protect this environment should be our first priority, and we can do this by using the 3 Rs. Reduction and reuse are the most effective ways you can save natural resources, protect the environment and save money. The most effective way to reduce waste is to not create it in the first place. There are many benefits that come from reducing and reusing, for example; it saves energy, saves money, helps sustain the environment for the future generations etc. Recycling is the process of collecting and processing materials that would otherwise be thrown away as trash and turning them into new products. Benefits of recycling include the reduction of green houses gases, reduction of pollution and conserving of natural resources such as timber, water and minerals. We can recycle materials such as paper (which makes up to 30% of all wastes), plastics (which makes up to 7% of the waste streams etc).

Keeping our environment green, peaceful and natural is one of the most important things. This is the environment we live in, breathe in, everyday and it is our responsibility to make it better. If we want to start with the 3Rs, we have to start with ourselves and eventually more people will join in with this nature loving project to have a greener environment tomorrow.

GO GREEN!

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Changez Gul, Tameer-i-Nau school, Quetta

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Fahad Khan, 15 years old, Roots Ivy school Islamabad

Faiza Khan

Environmental Pollution Noor Ahmed S/o Haji Mohammad, Dar-e-Arqam Educational School, Kuchlak, Balochistan All the natural things which make life possible on this earth include Water, Air, Sunlight, Land, Fire, Forests, Plants, and Animals etc. It is considered that Earth is the only planet in the universe, having a requirement for an environment for life’s existence. Without an environment we cannot sustain life here so we should keep our environment safe and clean to ensure the possibility of each and every individual living on the earth worldwide. Everyone should come forth and join the campaign for the Environments safety.

There are various cycles which happen regularly between the environment and the living things to maintain nature’s balance. However by any means if such a cycle is disturbed, nature’s balance also gets disturbed which ultimately affects human lives. Our environment helps us and other forms of existence to grow, develop and flourish on planet earth.

For thousands of years as human beings are considered as the most intelligent creature made by the nature on earth, they have lots of eagerness to know things in the universe which lead them towards technological advancements.

Such technological advancement in everyone’s life put the life possibilities on the earth in danger day by day as our environment is getting destroyed gradually. All these changes are harmful for life as natural air, soil & water are getting polluted it will affect the health of human beings, animals, plants and other living things.

Artificially prepared fertilizers by using harmful chemicals are spouting the soil which indirectly is getting collected into our body through the food we eat daily.

Harmful smokes created from industrial companies are also polluting the air on a daily basis as we breathe it every moment.

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Fahad Iqbal Shah, 16 years old, Roots Ivy school Islamabad

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Fatima Navaz, 17 years old, the City School, Islamabad

Fatir Ihsan, 18 years old, the City school Islamabad

Climate Change: Actions to take Sarfraz Mehmood, 21 years old, Comsats institute of information technology, Islamabad Climate change has great importance in our lives. We cannot stop disasters but by doing something positive, we can give our society many things and reduce the intensity of disasters .I want to mention a small but worth important example. In our daily routine we use bikes or cars even for going to market to buy something, even if the market is few meters away, so if we walk or go using bicycle we can prevent our environment from air pollution. In return which will effect our climate positivity. Another best example is that while walking on streets or roads we are observing and noticing plastic wrappers or tissue papers on streets and roads and pass a comment that there is much pollution and people are so illiterate but no one took forward step to make that plastic from roads and throw it in a dustbins. So we should take actions instead of criticizing. We have to take responsibilities as individual to make this world beautiful by cleansing, because little drops combine to form rivers and oceans.

And as a student of “biosciences� must do some important researches in order to find out that, how we can make our environment clean. As there are many technologies and ways like one of my fellow is doing research on microorganisms that grows on heavy metals and use them as source of food so by this we can reduce the harms spreading by heavy metals. But the main thing is that we have to take steps.

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Hania Tarik, 17 years old, the City school Islamabad 30

Momin Khan, Govt.Girls High school, Quetta

Uzair Ahmed, 16 years old, Roots Ivy school Islamabad

Climate Change influence.

Voice from the North.

S. Waqar Ali, student, Gilgit Baltistan The region of Gilgit-Baltistan is well known for its mighty glaciers and mountain ranges around the world. Out of the 14 highest peaks of the world, 5 lies in the territory of Gilgit Baltistan which makes the area an attraction point for tourists. The region is also the water towers for the whole country providing continuous stream of rivers pouring down from the mighty glaciers of the region. It is also noteworthy to mention that whole region is a diverse but fragile ecosystem where it is home to some of the world’s rarest species of animals and plants.

Although the dilemma of global climate change has engulfed the whole world the effects are particularly more prominent in this region keeping in view the vulnerability of these mountainous regions to calamities such as GLOFs (Glacial Lake Outburst Floods) and landslides. The occurrence of such events have now become frequent which is evident by the recently happened Attabad landslide which took more than 19 lives and has stranded more than 25,000 people from the whole country. As a result of which all forms of communication has come to halt which has subsequently intensified the issues of food insecurity and economic loss in the already poverty stricken area.

It is pertinent to mention some of the activities that are causing severe devastation to the ecology of the region. The approval of construction of dams by the government in such a fragile environment has significantly put the area in danger as increases rainfall and precipitation will provoked glacial melting at greater pace. Ultimately GLOFS that are already occurring frequently will increase putting the lives of thousands in danger.

In certain regions of Gilgit-Baltistan locals backed by some influential personalities have started to wipe out the forests for the purpose of wood supply to the industries.

Additionally in the absence of LPG supply to the region almost every household relies upon the forests for their source of fuel for daily uses. With such an aggravated condition of deforestation, forests in Gilgit-Baltistan will soon vanish and will eventually destroy the diverse ecosystem it possess.

To cater such issues we as a youth must play our role in conserving the environment we are living in. Pragmatic steps such as switching to environment friendly source of energy instead of relying on fossil fuel should is being encouraged among the people to minimize the impact of our practices on the environment. Plantation at regional as well as local level should also be encouraged and certain regulations should also be imposed by the state in parts of the region that are vulnerable to deforestation. Together with our environment friendly actions we can curb out the issue of climate change and live a sustainable life.

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Mehr-un-Nisa Usman, 17 years old, the City School Islamabad

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Ahmed Anwer, 16 years old, the City School Islamabad

Hydar Naveed, Saint Anthony High School, Lahore

Pollution – one of the reasons of Climate Change Salar Ahmed, Tameer-e-Nau Public School, Quetta Environmental pollution refers to the introduction of harmful pollutants into the environment. We all live on Planet Earth, which is the only planet know to have an environment, where air and water are two basic things that sustain life. Without air and water the earth would be like other planets, No human, no animals and no plants either. The biosphere in which living beings have their sustenance has oxygen, nitrogen, carbon-dioxide, argon and water vapor. All these are well balanced to ensure and help a healthy growth of life.

1) Industrial Activities: Industries and factories all over the world are emitting various gasses and chemicals that have disrupted the ecological balance.

There are major health hazards involved when these gasses and chemicals are introduced into the ecosystem but mostly damages earths’ soil, water and air.

2) Vehicles: The smoke emitted by vehicles using petrol & diesel are a major impact to our environment. The harmful smoke by these vehicles causes air pollution.

3) Population Overgrowth: Due to the increase in population, particularly in developing countries where the demand for food & occupation are high, Population overgrowth is the main cause of deforestation.

Light and Noise Pollution are two other examples of environmental pollution.

The government should play a major role in setting up factories and industries away from civilization and keep a close check on their waste. They should also be more forest land.

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Aneesa Rauf & Afreen Nazik, Islamabad

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Malaika Malik, Islamabad

Aizaz, 15 years old, Mashal Model school

Youth and Climate Change Fatima Nawaz, 17 years old, the City School Islamabad What is climate change? Does the youth know about it? Do they know how to work for it? I believe it is important to inform them about these things! Climate change is the change in pattern of climate around the globe! Youth can work for it through various activites. It is important for youth to know that they play an important role in working for climate change. Their role begins with changing themselves. They need to realize that contributing a little to the betterment of enivornment can work a lot. They can do that by firstly, keeping the areas nearby clean, using the waste bin instead of throwing the waste products on the road.

Moreover, they can join or start organizations who work for the enivornment betterment so by taking such measures the enivornment is kept clean and does not effect the climate. They can also spread the word to their social circles so more people are aware of the importance of climate change .Efficient use of water can help to contribute too as saving water is a great contribution because that water can later be used in the period of drought or so. This can be done by closing the taps while brushing, shaving etc as leaky taps can waste 200 gallons of water per day. They can use paper bags instead of plastic bags I as we all are aware of the fact that plastic bags pollute our enivornment .One of the major contribution by the youth can be planting trees as they help to keep the enivornment clean and green moreover protect cities from floods as their roots hold the soil together and does not allow the water flood the cities. Hence there are various steps that can be taken by the youth to protect their enivornment and climate change will be benefit to the world. So let’s join hands and decide to work for the betterment of the climate.

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Mahmorr Salman, 15 years old, the City school Islamabad

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Shahida Batool, 13 years old, Mashal Model school

Sabeeh Ahmed, 14 years old, the City School Islamabad

Climate change Simra Naveer, Bahria College, Karachi Changes in the climate are not new. In fact they are as old as our planet. The overall tendency of the global temperature over the cause of geological time sphere that the climate have been rather hot, except for the 5 ice ages. The last one of which is the quaternary era, in which we are currently living. However the current changes in climate can’t be considered as ordinary. Because of its scale and rapidity. This warming of our climate can only be described as extraordinary in the history of planet.

The greenhouse effect Our life style and consumption patterns emit large quantities of greenhouse gases (GHS).

The worsening of this greenhouse effect plays an important role in climate change. Each one of us has to be aware that today we have to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.

Causes of climate changes The current climate change is mainly linked to greenhouse gas emissions resulting from human activities. These emission of the anthropogenic origin are y themselves respective for more than ¾ of CO2. The consumption of fossil fuel is far the most incriminating factor. But we should not forget that changes in land use, including deforestation, occupy second place in term of responsibility for the worldwide increase in greenhouse gases emissions (17% of the global emissions).

The effects of climate change: the unequal distribution of the impact Global warming introduces an additional factor of the inequality and disparity of between the different geological regions. The population of the world’s poorest countries are more vulnerable when faced with effects of the climate change, eventhough they are less responsible for that. The developing countries are not able to protect themselves against the impact of the phenomenon. Nor adjust to it. Climate change increases the precautious situation of the poorest populations (food security, access to health care, water and energy, housing…). Widening even further the socioeconomic divide between the north and the south.

Because of their location, their law increases, the insufficiency of their resources and institutional capacities. And because they mostly count climate dependent sectors like agricultural populations of the poorest countries are the first victims of current and future climate changes.

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Haleema, 13 years old, Mashal Model school Islamabad

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Impact of climate change.

Ways to deal with climate change.

Mohammad Hassan Khan, 18 years old, Karachi “Some scientists believe climate change is the cause of unprecedented melting of the North Pole, and that affects these very uncertain weather patterns. I think we should listen to those scientists and experts.” Due to the technological revolution it got easier to understand that the climate is changing, still we are unable to know at which rate. Climate change has severe consequences in the shape of Floods, Late transition from summer to winter which includes Heat wave, and hurricanes. Bold steps are required to be taken by global or national leaders to sustain Earth’s climate by boosting awareness amongst people. A cost-benefit analysis of most global warming scenarios indicates that it would be cheaper and more effective to stop global warming at certain rates rather than to prevent global warming.

The record breaking Heat wave hit South Asia this year and claimed hundreds of lives.

In Pakistan, death toll ranked up to 1000 people due to the low air pressure, high humidity and an absent wind which played the major role in making the heat unbearable. Similarly, in India the death figure crossed 2000 according to the CNN. Figures showed that it was the worst heat wave in 3 decades. Severity of the issue demands concerned organizations and departments to ‘Do More’ for environment. If nothing more, creating awareness and bringing people onto a single platform would be the best option. According to the Gallop poll in 2014, 51 percent of the American were little or not at all worried about climate change which is concerning for a developed nation.

Another key factor which encourages climate to change is consumption of energy produced by fossil fuels. Studies show that approximately 10.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide emits per year. It shares the major chunk amongst the negative externalities. Lesotho, the small African country is depended on renewable energy resources which makes 100% environment friendly electricity. Costa Rica, Laos, Colombia and several other smaller nations encouraged the alternate of fossil fuels.

The reduction of Global warming would be hard if there is no proper mean to determine the rate of change. In this regard Prevention is what comes next. Environmental policies will help to change the behavior of people towards nature and will be beneficial for the whole society. Recently in Pakistan a campaign was launched named “1 billion trees” by one of the provisional government. This w not only encourage the people living there to take steps ahead but people from other provinces participated too.

Climate change is a global issue and needs to be addressed in a global level. Human impelled climate change has contributed to changing patterns of extreme weather across the globe, from longer and hotter heat waves to heavier rains. All weather events are interlinked with the climate change.

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The story of Jhang Tarbia Aamir, 18 years old, Jhang city Located at the east bank of River Chenab is the traditional and cultural city of Jhang. It is one of the most ancient districts of subcontinent, having been populated even around 2,000 BC. Usually over time we expect cities to grow and prosper, but that is not the case here as despite of being an agricultural city and having abundance of natural vegetation Jhang is going under severe environmental degradation. There are several environmental problems here which need to be addressed.

The first and foremost among these problems is flood which effects hundreds of residents, their homes, life stock and agricultural fields every year. Flood is the event which has prolonged effect on lives of people here and gives birth to public health issue also along with food shortage. Flood has become an annual event in this area and despite of the knowledge of areas under threat of flood government and its organizations are incapable of preventing even human causalities.

Moreover, there is problem of deforestation and utilization of agricultural land for housing schemes. Jhang is one of the greenest areas in Pakistan with fertile land and efficient irrigation system. Considering that Pakistan is basically an agricultural country, Jhang is an important asset. Over the past years however, as the population has increased, there has been alarming reduction in natural vegetation and agricultural land.

The problems Jhang is facing don’t just stop at natural destruction.

Mismanagement of the authorities have also made this area severely polluted in the absence of any proper sewerage or garbage disposal system. There are several other problems like industrial pollution and contamination of ground water too which cannot be mentioned due to lack of space. This area is I need of serious development, yet development projects introduced for the area are next to none. Hence I would say that these problems are manageable and the root cause of all these problems however lies in the lack of interest presented by the authorities in the wellbeing of this ancient and historic city.

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Youth’s role in protection of environment of Dera Ghazi Khan Yusra Feroz, 16 years old, Dera Ghazi Khan Travelling back in time reveals that life was smooth in Pakistan with clean and clear environment. Industrial advancement came coupled with increased pollution, the consequences of which to be confronted by the people of Pakistan in years to come are horrifying.

Environmentally analyzing, Dera Ghazi Khan unveils dry environment with rocky grounds affected from “saim” in most of areas making them unsuitable for cultivation. Water scarcity too is a major issue in this city. Ground water is adulterated with toxic chemicals in alarming amounts. Moreover, ever multiplying number of vehicles is making environment of DG Khan unsafe to breath in. Prior government action is the need of the hour in this regard.

Ratification of environment protection laws was merely ceremonial in here, which urged us, the young population to rise up for some practical action. Realizing our power and energies, we took the responsibility and started campaigns all across the major population centers. We met district authorities, industrialists, locals, and travelers to raise awareness about pollution control and recycling methods.

We have volunteers to go to every nook and corner of DG Khan to increase the awareness among the residents. Our tools are banners, posters, regularly held seminars in colleges and schools both in urban and rural areas which will be instrumental in bringing an environmental revolution.

Cooperating with the government and UN, we will do our best to protect our city’s environment.

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Kainat Shahzadi, 16 years old 55

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Shehroze Ahmed, Saint Anthony High School, Lahore

Zahid Ullah Zahid, Balochistan 59

YOUTH FORUM IN ISLAMABAD

United4Climate

The United Nations Information Centre invited students from different schools in Islamabad for an interactive Youth Forum on Climate Change. The workshop was called United4Climate: Pakistani Youth for Climate Change. Around 100 young people were brought together and were briefed on climate change. The colorful logo inspired by the UN emblem reminded students about the importance of speaking out about climate change and about ways to play their part in the cause as young leaders.

Australian High Commissioner in Islamabad Ms. Margaret Adamson, Director UNIC Vittorio Cammarota, Zeba Husain of Mashal School and climate change experts spoke to students to engage them in an interactive conversation on climate change. Students asked questions to obtain clarity about aspects of the issue of climate change, and shared their ideas on how to act against climate change in everyday life. They were told about thoughtful disposal of different type of waste material. Students took part in a creative activity where they expressed themselves through art work bringing forward their thoughts and ideas to tackle climate change. With great enthusiasm they shared their thoughts through topical essays and drawings, which UNIC will collect in a booklet “Pakistani youth for Climate Change� to be launched on the global Climate Change conference COP21 in Paris.

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