KARACHI - Sindh Minister for Women Development Syeda Shehla Raza inaugurated the CO2 smart website that allows the viewers to see the amount of CO2 what has been absorbed by the planted trees in real time, giving an immediate sense of achievement to the students who planted it.
Attending the first two-day International Conference on Carbon Neutral Built Environment 2018 held at the NED University of Engineering &Technology as the chief guest, Shehla appreciated the efforts of NED University, HEC and Thar Foundation in converting an innovative technological idea into reality. She also shared various initiatives undertaken by the Sindh government for uplifting of Tharparkar.
Speaking on the occasion, Pro Vice-Chancellor of the university Prof Dr Muhammad Tufail stressed the need to fill the knowledge gap pertaining to climate and environment issues.
He pointed out that this conference is one of the major opportunities to apprise oneself of the current challenges and solutions available to help develop carbon neutral built environment.
The Conference Patron and the Vice-Chancellor NED University, Prof Dr Sarosh Hashmat Lodi provided the conference overview to the audience.
He said that the Carbon Neutral Campus was an initiative related to Centennial year celebrations of NED University, as they were targeting it through actions like energy conservation, planting trees and using renewable sources.
“Our direct contribution to CO2 emissions is 3120 million tonnes of Equivalent CO2, which is equivalent to approximately planting 140,000 trees equivalent. Through this initiative, NED University is aiming to become a live lab for Carbon Neutrality, and said the NED University VC as he invited industries to join hands in the partnership,” he added. Later in the closing ceremony of conference, 35 school students from six schools of Tharparkar region along with school students of Karachi planted geo-tagged trees on the NED University soil.
The drive was called “CO2 Smart – Thar Karachi Student Mobility Campaign for reducing Carbon Footprint”. Sindh Minster for Women Development, Syeda Shehla Raza, was the chief guest, while Javed Memon, HEC Regional Director was the guest of honour on the occasion. Both the distinguished guests also planted trees alongside the students. The conference was jointly held by NED University in partnership with the Karachi Centre of Institution of Engineers Pakistan (IEP). The NED University of Engineering &Technology has actively started working on a plan to make its campus a carbon-neutral zone by the year 2021 when the university will be commemorating the centennial year of its foundation.
A carbon-neutral environment means initiation of a number of mitigation measures especially extensive tree plantation to completely neutralise effects of harmful carbon emissions in a particular area due to greenhouse gases.
