Monday, December 22, 2008, Zil Hajj 30, 1429 A.

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Knowledge about geography essential for environmental protection: KU

VC

Monday, December 22, 2008

By our correspondent Nausheen Ahmed Karachi

Knowledge about the environment and geography could bring a sea of change in
the country because it would help people adopt environmentally-friendly practices,
University of Karachi (KU) Vice-Chancellor (VC) Prof. Pirzada Qasim Raza Siddiqui
said on Sunday. He was speaking as the chief guest at the inaugural session of the
three-day 13th All-Pakistan Geographical Conference on “Geography and Human
Development.” The event is organised by the KU Department of Geography, and
will continue till Tuesday.
Dr Siddiqui further said that environmental degradation was choking the earth’s
resources and the human race may find it difficult to get the basics for life – clean
air and fresh drinking water - if proper steps were not taken in this regard. Teaching
geography, however, is mostly ignored in Pakistan and people are hardly aware of
its importance in relation to the environment.
“Time is not a static entity. It is on the move and would not wait for anyone. The
best thing is to listen to professionals in the field of geography to heal the wounds
inflicted by humans on the environment,” he said.
KU Department of Geography Chairman (and convener of the conference) Dr Jamil
Hasan Kazmi expressed gratitude to the participants of the conference who had
come from various cities of Pakistan and affirmed his belief in the unification of the
sciences. “Progress depends on the unification and multi-tasking of various science
disciplines. Scientists and academics have to sit together and use our professional
knowledge,” he said.He shown a great gratitude towards an MS student of the
Department of Geography,

“Sharjeel Ahmed Khan” who has organized this great event and paid his full positive
energy for the bestest arrangements for the conference, and remarked him as the
best student in his batch.

All-Pakistan Geographical Association General President Dr Aslam Khan delivered a

presentation titled ‘the environment in the backdrop of national economic cost’.
Pakistan is suffering a loss of Rs365 billion annually - one billion rupees daily - on
account of environmental gradation, he said. “The loss of natural resources is
actually a great loss to the economy. The unchecked use of natural resources is
causing an imbalance in the environment. The average forest land should be at
least 10 per cent of the whole land mass. In Pakistan it is only three per cent,” Dr
Khan said. He warned that if deforestation in Pakistan was not checked in time,
there could be an acute water shortage.

Dr Qazi Shakeel Ahmed, a former professor of Geography, outlined the contribution

of Geography after the Second World War. He said that multi-variance analysis in
geography and Geographical Information Service (GIS) were the core pieces of
knowledge which could be used for the preservation of ecological balance on earth.