World Environment Day is observed in many places across the world on the 5th June every year. The day has been singled out to inspire awareness and enhance political attention and action towards the environment. It is an opportunity for many of us living in the developing world to think of our contribution and approach towards making the world a better place for ourselves, our children and grandchildren.
In Ministry of Ports and Shipping our two major ports possess significant mangrove forest cover. We are trying to come to terms with an emerging international order, highly interdependent and characterised by the incorporation of increasingly complexed issues that are intertwined with the development processes, such as global environmental concerns, competitive pattern of growth, innovation, new technologies, social equity and institutional governance. Often these issues are managed under separate but complex legal regimes, which impose significant constraints and challenges on developing countries like ours in the Arabian Sea. It is for these reasons the ministry along with its regional counterparts have been making every effort to put in place a number of mechanisms and institutional arrangements to establish a "common regional economic space" to address these challenges and strengthen the Region's identity in the global market space.
The earth's well-being is an issue of significant importance to every nation in every part of the world and the issue of the degradation of the forest is a global issue that requires global solutions. Mangrove forests are the protecting shields to the indo-pacific coastal countries from hurricanes, coastal storms etc. They are not demanding anything in rupees for this valuable service from the humans instead they need protection and sustainable management. Stakes are high, since our country's forest cover is decreasing at an alarming rate.
Forest degradation is a long term problem and recognised as a significant global problem and this generation needs to approach the problem head-on in ensuring that our actions do not harm future generations. By doing so, we need to recognise that environmental problems are neither achievable nor sustainable without opportunities for growth, development and poverty alleviation. Karachi Port Trust, being an environmental friendly organisation, is taking imperative measures for the protection of the mangroves present in the vicinity. It requires us to work collectively to bring together political influence and decisions, skills, finance, and technology to develop a shared and fair pathway for all that can endure in future. There is little time remaining to choose the direction we must travel together.
As we recognise World Environment Day, 2011, let us recommit ourselves towards working harder to ensure that our actions individually and collectively would not further undermine the available resources in the global environment. Last but not least, I would like to appreciate KPT's efforts for playing its role for the sustainable management of mangrove forests.
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