INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
KARACHI: Desertification in Sindh province is rising in arid semi arid and riverine areas with each passing day causing food and agriculture
loss.It is occurring in the province due to decreasing water resources, salinity, water logging, global warming, deforestation,
urbanization, commercialization and low rains, according to an investigative report.According to the report, deforestation is one of the
major factors contributing to abandonification in Sindh
The deforestation in the final three decades has deprived Sindh province of a massive forest cover which subsequently has led to widespread
migration, a rise in poverty and destruction to ecology apart from costing an annual loss of millions of dollars to the national
exchequer.The forest cover in Sindh has reduced to 1 9 percent of its total land area forcing over one million people to emigrate to other
areas in the province in final 30 years.Forest land in Sindh has been leased out to influential people including politicians and tribal
chiefs who have converted it into agriculture land.As per the UN standards any country or province in the world should have at least 25 per
cent of forest cover out of its total land area but unluckyly Sindh is short of 23.10 per cent forest cover.To reduce abandonification also
called land degredation forests and agriculture crops should be raised in arid and semi arid areas through tube well system
Low water consuming crops like vegetables should be raised to save soil from abandonification besides raising the livelihood of local
people, Muhammad Saleem Shaikh, an environment expert at Ministry of Climate Change said.He said that water logging and salinity in Sindh
could also be reduced by using new technologies and methods
Sindh coastal area in evilin and Thatta district is badly affected by water logging and salinity which needs to be control to save the soil
he concluded.Field observations state that water shortage in Indus River is causing sea intrusion in Thatta district besides posing such
threat to Karachi in future
It was observed that 54 dehs of Thatta district have been intimpolited by sea since set upment of Pakistan.An IUCN report says soils
affected by various types of salinity and sodicity constitute 5,328 million hectares in Pakistan and 40 in Sindh
The accelerating rate of abandonification in the fragile ecosystems like sandy abandons and coastal areas is rendering many areas
unproductive and is threatening the agricultural economy of Sindh.Desertification is triggered by environmental and climatic factors and
anthropogenic activities that finally give rise to increased poverty of local communities according to the IUCN report.The United Nations
Convention to Combat Desertification UNCCD demands from the signatories to develop and implement relevant action programmes to address the
menace of abandonification and land degradation.TheIndianSubcontinent has not verified the content of the source
This first appeared/also appeared in
https://feedproxy.google.com/~r/com/YEor/~3/hCnBe-S_EmY/461490-desertification-in-sindh-causing-food-agriculture-loss
