HYDERABAD:Speakers at a seminar titled “Enhancing awareness and engagement of youth towards addressing coastal climate vulnerabilities and gender empowerment” emphasized youth to take lead in action against climate change.
The seminar was jointly organized by WWF-Pakistan and University of Sindh in collaboration with Oxfam GB in Pakistan on Friday.
Speaking on the occasion, Prof Dr Rafique Ahmed Memon, Pro Vice Chancellor of the Sindh University Thatta Campus said the climate change is impacting almost each sector and has caused huge losses to country.
He informed that as a result of climate impacts, most of the ecosystems are losing their resilience, therefore earth has become much less hospitable for the modern globalized society. ‘Youth should be engaged in climate change initiatives as they can play pivotal role in promotion of climate change resilience and adaptation’ he added.
Dr. Tahir Rasheed, Regional Director WWF Pakistan said that despite its global ecological significance, the Indus Delta is most vulnerable to climate change impacts and is at a greater risk of degradation.
He informed that decrease in river water flow has led to reduction in sediment deposition, seawater intrusion, land use changes, sea level rise and disappearance of various deltaic fish species. He said that these factors together are putting one of the largest and precious deltaic ecosystems of the world at a risk of shrinking and degradation.
Dr Mukhtiar Ahmed Mahar, Director Coastal and Deltaic Studies, Sindh University Campus, Thatta said the coastal belt of Sindh is highly affected by climatic events. It is high time to develop understanding about the adverse impacts of climate change and find practical solutions.
Jawad Umer Khan, Project Coordinator briefed the participants about the Oxfam GB project interventions in the coastal belt of Sindh. He shared progress of the mangroves conservation initiative and community engagement in the Indus delta and informed that detailed researches have been made till now including community vulnerability and risk assessment, sectoral local adaptation plan of action and loss and damage calculations along with other studies.
Hamera Aisha, Manager WWF-Pakistan said efforts aimed to improve the resilience of rural communities of Sindh and enhance their knowledge and skills to prepare for, adapt to and mitigate climate and disaster risks.
Among others, Dr Rafique Ahmed Lashari, Director Centre for Pure and Applied Geology; Prof Dr Nek Muhammad Sheikh, Director Institute of Physics and Dr. Amanullah Mahar from Sindh University also shared their views in the seminar.