Pakistan marks Earth Day virtually amid Coronavirus lockdown

• Earth Day as an annual global event, observed on April 22, celebrates the environmental movement and raises awareness about pollution and ways to maintain a clean habitat.
• He said the webinar was being arranged in coordination with Tehran ECO Institute of Environmental Science and Technology with the participation of ten member countries avoiding physical interaction due to COVID-19.
• “Our youth will be the future leaders and decision makers after 15 to 20 years so they must be well informed about the climate related issues being faced by the country and their solutions”, he said.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan, like across the globe, marked the World Earth Day on Wednesday virtually due to lockdown situation amid prevailing health crisis in the country calling for serious efforts to control environmental degradation and maintain a clean habitat.

This year, the Earth Day was celebrated under the theme `climate action’ which is the enormous challenge but have the vast opportunities of action have distinguished the issue as the most pressing topic for the 50th anniversary.

Earth Day as an annual global event, observed on April 22, celebrates the environmental movement and raises awareness about pollution and ways to maintain a clean habitat. However this year, the day has gained more significance due to observance of 50th Anniversary of Earth Day.

On this occasion, ECO Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ECO-IEST) has arranged an international webinar to mark Earth Day which commenced on April 21 and will conclude on April 23.

President Economic Cooperation  Organization (ECOSF), Professor Manzoor Soomro attended the webinar as keynote speaker and delivered the speech titled “Climate Change and School Education” on the starting day.

Talking to APP on Wednesday, Professor Soomro said this webinar was arranged to highlight the importance of school education on climate change.

The webinar also discussed how the effects of climatic changes and global warming can be mitigated and handled to protect our earth.

He said the webinar was being arranged in coordination with Tehran ECO Institute of Environmental Science and Technology with the participation of ten member countries avoiding physical interaction due to COVID-19.

He said climate change was a complex subject and its understanding was an essential requirement today especially for the youth which comprised over a big chunk of population.

“Our youth will be the future leaders and decision makers after 15 to 20 years so they must be well informed about the climate related issues being faced by the country and their solutions”, he said.

“We have to prepare our youth from school to Intermediate level through equipping them with the knowledge on how to address challenges associated with climatic changes” he added.

He also emphasizing on inclusion of climate change as part of their schools curriculum.

It was very unfortunate that Pakistan lacked Science Centers and proper focus on Science Museums which could be great source of interactive learning for the students, he observed.

Earth Day Network Pakistan (a private organization)  in Islamabad also arranged a digital programme “Climate Talk” following by its digital campaign where a number of children participated by sharing their pictures and videos demanding the citizens to play their role in providing safe planet to the next generations.

One of the participant, Sumbel Khan in her shared video conveyed a message saying “This planet is not just a planet; this is our home where we born, we grow up and live a life. Taking care of it is just a major responsibility being human being as simply giving our point of contribution toward making this earth a better and sustainable place can bring a greater impact resulting more harmonized and sustainable place assuring each and every creature exist on this planet.

Climate change can be prevented, ecosystem and marine life can be better if we just be more cautious with our actions to avoid causing damage to our environment in 2020, she said.