Staff Report KHI: The Pakistan Sustainable Transport (PAKSTRAN) Project organized a media sensitization seminar in Karachi today, to raise awareness of the significance of sustainable transport, the adverse impacts of carbon emissions, and the issues of mass transit systems in the country.


The seminar aimed at leveraging the media outreach to create awareness across different segments of society, especially vehicle owners.


In his opening remarks, Mahmood Akhtar Cheema, Country Representative of IUCN Pakistan said, “The transport sector in Pakistan has linkages with economic and social development and environmental improvements and all possible measures must be promoted to improve the urban transport activity in Pakistan.” He appreciated the involvement of the media in maintaining a positive approach towards the issue of public transport in the country.


PAKSTRAN is being implemented by the Government of Pakistan, through the Government of Sindh (Transport Department), Government of Punjab (Urban Unit, Planning and Development Department) and IUCN. The Project, among other aims, focuses on the development of mass transit systems in Pakistan that are safe, clean and comfortable for the citizens. “This five-year project with a funding of $7.8m was aimed at reducing the growth of energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. “These objectives would be achieved through planning and implementation of integrated urban transport systems,” explained Syed Kamran Haider Naqvi, urban specialist at IUCN.


“The worlds largest single environmental health risk is air pollution,” explained Dr. Zafar Fatimi, Head, Division of Environmental Health Sciences, Aga Khan University, during his presentation. Dr. Fatmi informed the participants that the broad impact of outdoor air pollution was “not only on human health, but also on agriculture and climate and contributed significantly to global warming.” He added that “lungs are more exposed to the environment than any other part of the body, and therefore more susceptible to impact.”

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