Conference Held To Highlight Effects Of Climate Change On Karachi

“Climate change has ravaged our current ecosystem and if not addressed, will devastate our future generations. The planet’s future is at stake”, said Nazifa Butt.

Conference Held To Highlight Effects Of Climate Change On Karachi

The “Climate Change and Karachi – Building Coastal Resilience” Conference was held in Karachi with the goal of highlighting the effects of climate change on the city and the measures that can be taken to mitigate its effects through a series of keynote speakers’ presentations followed by panel discussions. Racha Alkhawaja, CEO of TPL Investment Management in Abu Dhabi, gave the opening remarks, emphasising the role of our country’s business and government fraternity in achieving sustainable development. “We have gathered here to consider possibilities, pledge to sustainability, and pledge our efforts to future generations.” Professionals from both the private and public sectors attended the conference, and they could play a critical role in encouraging sustainable practises that will steer the city toward coastal resilience.

“This conference has allowed us to move in the right direction,” said Nazifa Butt, Senior Manager, Climate and Energy Programme, WWF. “Climate change has ravaged our current ecosystem and if not addressed, will devastate our future generations. The planet’s future is at stake”. Nazifa has been associated with the organization for the past 12 years and has more than 18 years of experience in areas like Climate Change, Sustainable Living & Healthy Urban Lifestyles. She heads Corporate Partnerships and Fundraising at WWF-Pakistan where she has carried out various corporate and citizen engagement activities.

The presentations covered adaptation areas, methods for combating climate change, and key initiatives that must be implemented to assist vulnerable communities in adapting to climate change through sustainable solutions. “We have a number of milestones ahead of us. Future development initiatives should include sustainability objectives. “Restoring mangroves to mitigate climate change should be considered on a national level across both the government and private sectors,” said Tariq A. Qaiser, Principal Architect, TAQ Associates, an architect, environmentalist, filmmaker, and former faculty member at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston.

Each session demonstrated the reality of future climate change effects and what needs to be done to restore the ecosystem. “Man has trifled with nature in its own greed, and now nature is having its say. We need to restore the balance disturbed by us if we plan for our generations to have a brighter future”. Masood Lohar, a climate change adaptation and mitigation expert with over two decades of experience in ecosystem restoration and promoting urban forests/wetlands, agreed.

The panel discussions included notable personalities such as DG Environment Naeem Mughal, Shah Murad Aliani, Nazifa Butt, Riaz Wagan, Nadeem Mirbahar, Farhan A. Mehboob, Tariq A. Qaiser, Masood Lohar, and Tofiq Pasha Mooraj. The discussion prompted provincial officials and the business community to reconsider and strengthen their climate change adaptation strategies for 2023, as well as to accelerate efforts to adopt renewable energy options and phase out inefficient fossil fuel dependency.

“The discussions held today could pave the way for a decade-long idea on how corporations should mitigate their operations and address their impact on communities that have suffered from the effects of climate change,” said Minister of Forest Department, Sindh. The emphasis on renewable energy should be a joint effort.”