Senate body for resolving non-conventional issues of coastal areas

ISLAMABAD, Jan 8 (APP): Senate Standing Committee, on Planning, Development and reforms Friday stressed the need for resolving issues of non-conventional security threats of the coastal areas of Sindh and Balochistan provinces.
Senate Sub- Committee on Planning, Development and reforms met here with its convener Senator Kareem Khawaja in the chair to discuss serious issue of sea erosion.
Kareem Khawaja, on the occasion said “We need to understand the gravity of issue in the provinces which are facing serious threats of sea intrusion and land erosion”.
He asked the Federation to take interest in these issues and resolve them with the consensus of all provincial and political stakeholder.Senator Kareem Khawaja said that 1.2 million acre land of Sindh province had lost due to sea intrusion and land erosion.
“Sea intrusion is a serious issue which not only causes land loss but can also affect our defense installation” he said.Meanwhile representative of the ministry of Planning informed
that sea intrusion and land erosion was a provincial government issue and commission was working under the central government.He said that the issue of sea intrusion and land erosion was not part of the vision 2025.The official from Pakistan Navy informed that they were keeping a constant eye on situation in the coastal areas and were regularly
conducting studies in this regard. “We have complete data of the 990 Km coastal area of the
country” he added.Chairman Indus River System Authority (IRSA),Rao Irshad Ali Khan while
briefing the committee said that the authority had conducted series of studies on the issues pertaining to water escapades below Kotri Barrage to check seawater intrusion, water release downstream of Kotri Barrage to address environmental concerns of all the four provinces.
He said that the increase in salinity due to depleting fresh water contribution by the Indus River had reduced the suitability of the delta for cultivation of different crops, fruit and rising
livestock.This issue would pose threat to food security in the country, he
added.Director General of the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) said that climate change, through increased intrusion of sea water into the Indus deltaic region could affect the whole range of life besides causing degradation of crucial ecosystems such as mangroves.
“Major changes in river flow below Kotri have affected the in lower Sindh and the coastal area significantly, besides adversely affecting agriculture production,” DG NIO said.
While Convener committee concluded that the committe would soon
visit the places of Sindh and Balochistan to observe the issue in effected regions.
Senator Muhammad Mohsin Khan Leghari, official of the Ministry of Planning and Reforms, Officials of Provincial governments, Disaster Management cell and WAPDA were present in the meeting.