DLP Report
PESHAWAR
In an effort to put a spotlight on the state of our wetlands globally, each year, the international community celebrates World Wetland Day on the 2nd February.
In this connection, the department of Botany at University of Peshawar (UoP) in collaboration with Liaison Corporation and Directorate of Youth Affairs Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) organized a workshop to raise awareness of wetland clean-up exercise. The theme of the workshop was “Water and Biodiversity”. Focused on the intrinsic link between wetland and biodiversity, highlighting the role wetlands play in protecting biodiversity gradual degradation in view of climatic changes.
Wetlands play a major role in keeping the quantity and quality of freshwater and provide a suitable environment for marine life and migratory birds in the world.
Speakers at the workshop said that the wetlands are vital for humans, for other ecosystems and for our climate, providing essential ecosystem services such as water regulation, including flood control and water purification.
They said that due to emerging global warming related issues, countries around the world are on the path of losing wetlands, adding that excess release of Co2 the reservoirs of freshwater are getting pollutant that creates the issues of biodiversity loss and water scarcity problem.
Workshop speakers said that biodiversity loss has been highlighted as a major risk to the world as the life of species at its risk and every next species is on the verge of extinction.
Due to intense biodiversity losses in Pakistan, Wetlands have been called a biological super system. But ahead of infectious diseases, terror attacks and interstate conflict we risk living in an empty world with catastrophic consequences.
Human health ultimately depends on ecosystem services, the availability of freshwater, fuel, food sources.
In May last year, the world’s leading scientists warned that nature (Biodiversity) is disappearing at a rate ten to hundreds of times higher than the average for the past 100 million years.
In order to stop this in Earth’s history cautioning there is a short time to act business, local communities, civil society of the youth, all of us led by governments must take actions.
The workshop was attended by students, journalists and members from academia.
Prof Dr Ghulam Dastgir, Chairman of Department of Botany Dr Lal Badshah, young climate activist Sikandar Shah and district field coordinator Dr Nadia Mubarak delivered speeches on wetlands.
