THATTA: Former Sindh minister for culture and tourism Sassui Palijo has called for strengthening the Sindh Coastal Development Authority and said Karachi coast should also be brought under the authority as there is no need to set up a separate body for the metropolis.

At the launch of a position paper on “Use of coastal mapping for identifying an ICM coastal zone” here on Tuesday, Ms Palijo said that the required quantity of water should be released downstream Kotri under the 1991 water accord to keep the delta alive.

The paper was developed by the Friends of Indus Forum in collaboration with the Building Capacity on Climate Change Adaptation in Coastal Areas of Pakistan (CCAP) Project, WWF-Pakistan.

Possessed with rich coastal resources, Sindh had a great potential for eco-tourism, she said, adding the government should take into account reservations of local communities before launching any mega project in coastal areas.

She stressed the need for legislation for the protection of coastal resources and said that the Sindh Assembly was the right forum to discuss the issues of coastal communities.

Nasir Ali Panhwar, general secretary of the Friends of Indus Forum, said that Indus delta had suffered colossal degradation over the years due to various factors. The damage should be assessed and the required flow of water should be released down to the delta, he said.

He said that local communities in lower riparian areas were suffering as a price for economic benefits of the upper riparian. Sindh coastline was more productive than Balochistan’s due to its topographic composition and the forum had developed a series of position papers to sensitise decision makers to crucial environmental issues, he said.

Dr Sarfraz H. Solangi, pro-vice chancellor of Sindh University’s Thatta campus, said that sea water intrusion was on the rise in the delta because of construction of dams and upstream diversions of the Indus river. His institute would offer two year MSc degree in integrated coastal management to create awareness about the issue, he said.

Farhan Anwar, an environmental expert, said that besides fisheries, coastal areas could also be exploited for energy generation, oil production, promotion of eco-tourism and strengthening of business avenues.

He said that in order to make optimum use of ‘mapping’ for defining coastal zones, not only technical but critically required policy, governance, institutional and financial interventions would also be required.

Prof Mustaque Mirani said that mapping of coastal areas was essential for their effective management. It was government’s responsibility to pay attention to ecologically sound development of coastal areas. In addition to creating awareness, practical steps should be taken to improve the lot of the poor communities living in the delta, he said.

Tahir Abbasi of WWF-Pakistan said that nine vulnerability assessment studies had been conducted under a WWF project and further studies had been planned to identify impact of climate change.

A campaign for creating awareness about the real issues confronting the coastal areas had been launched in coastal communities of Keti Bunder and Kharro Chan in Thatta and Giwini, Gwadar, he said.

Published in Dawn, May 14th, 2014.