Inspired by the 16 years old Swedish girl Greta Thunberg’s struggle for demanding action on climate change, Pakistani youngsters are also taking to the streets to voice their concerns on ruthless human activities which are jeopardizing the future of this planet.
On 20th September when citizens from various countries are on a climate strike, Pakistanis from at least 20 cities are reportedly organizing the climate march in the areas to fight for a cleaner and greener Earth that offers a healthy environment to its inhabitants.
Climate March in Pakistan
Pakistan is one of the worst affectees of climate change. The country still relies on the burning of fossil fuels for major energy resources. The rapid pace of deforestation due to urbanization with a lack of proper planning is causing pollution, raising the temperatures along with severe health hazards. The loss of natural habitats for wild animals is also threatening biodiversity in the country.
Here is a scene of climate march Pakistan shared by social activist Ammar Rashid.
They are demanding that Pakistan should be known for the hottest people and food and not the hottest cities.
The crowd in Lahore looked more vibrant.
A Need to Devise Proper Policies
Pakistan has a ministry of Climate Change but its work is usually limited to running plantation drive. Or recently on the eve of the country’s independence day, it took action by banning polythene bags in Islamabad.
The issue is that scale of climate crisis in Pakistan is huge and it can’t be reduced by merely running plantation drives that too for the sake of making the news. A thorough action requires a crackdown on the greedy land mafia, devising policy for utilizing alternate renewable energy resources instead of relying on fossil fuels and keeping a check on un-planned, urbanization process.
This is the reason why protestors were demanding from the PTI government to come up with much-needed environment policies.
It was heartening to see the school going kids taking to the streets to demand a healthy future and urging the government to declare a climate emergency.
The scenes of climate march from the length and breadth of the country.
Girls in Kashmir raising their voice for a safe environment.
It is pleasant to see youngsters conscious about the harms of pollution, global warming and climate change on the survival of planet Earth and the human race. A robust action against this collective issue of humanity is possible only when governments and corporates decide to account for environmental impacts of their activities as the cost they will have to pay in the future.
