MITHI               -           A number of experts represents various international, national, and local organisations and government departments have shown their great concern over the climate change and its impacts including desertification, frequent droughts, rising temperatures, the unusual pattern of the rainfall etc.

Speaking to the event organized by Thardeep Rural Development Programme (TRDP) in Mithi on Friday. Ameen Amjad, the communication advocacy manager of UNDP Pakistan in his address urged the participants to understand the devastating impacts of the climate change for not only on the human lives but also on the soil adding he warned that the worsening situations had already posed the great threat to the agriculture and the fertility of the land.

He informed that his organisation under sustainable land management for past four had launched the drive in over 200 villages of 14 districts of the country to boost the agriculture and to fight the desertification, food insecurity and other devastating impacts of the monsters created by the impacts of the climate change.

Amjad said that it was very important to realise that desertification, degradation, and droughts were among the top issues of the whole country and there was need to create the awareness to combat with those menaces for the future generations.

Rab Nawaz, who led the delegation of International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) a specialized agency of United Nations, speaking on the occasion said that there was need to create the awareness among the small land owners, who according to him, were playing the vital role in crop production to overcome the looming danger of the food insecurity in the country. He urged that the small farmers as well as the land owners be trained and guided in a manner they could produce the crops, which might help to fight with impacts of the climate on the crop production.

He noted it with grave concerns that number of the species of grass, trees, shrubs and herbs were facing the extinction due to the worsening impacts of the climate change in the desert region.

DC Thar, Dr Shahzad Tahir Thaheem said that it was the matter of the deep concerns that people of Thar, organizations and even Government departments instead of depending upon the local resources to combat the challenges posed by the climate and environmental degradation. “It is our responsibly to fight the factors contributing to the issues created by the climate change”. He said that over past few years Thar had started to transform but the people were least interested to adapt themselves adding he said that events like that one would go long way to educate and create the awareness among the people of the desert region.

Dr Attaullah Khan, the director of Pakistan Agriculture Research Council speaking on the occasion said that they had number of the methods to have the access to the farmers, who still unaware the modern methods for the crop cultivation.

He maintained that there was an urgent need to provide more techniques to the farmers to resist the food insecurity

The CEO of TRDP Dr Allah Nawaz Samoo in his welcome speech said that it was the high time to realise the importance of the measures to tackle the various issues caused by the climate change. He observed that people had to adapt to the challenges and live accordingly because things would continue to change in the future. “We have to adapt ourselves and to mitigate the impacts for the future generations” he added and said that it was the prime duty of this generation to create the way forward for future generations to fight with the upcoming challenges like deforestation, shrinking wildlife and other assets of Thar region.

He said that they were also responsible for leaving the sandy dunes, the hills of Karoonjhar, and grazing lands in the same beautiful shape for the future generations by adapting to the new challenges. Zuilkar Ali Leghari, Aisha Jamshed, Nathu Khan Rahimoon, Ali Dino Kumbhar and other experts and representatives of various organisations from different parts of the country spoke on the occasion.

The various organisations also set up the stalls to display the culture, traditional foods, and farming tools during the day-long event.