ISLAMABAD – Wildfires are destroying Pakistani forests as some of the largest blazes were witnessed last year which recaps a lethal memento that the South Asian nation is far behind in fighting huge wildfires and adopting policies to protect lives and property.
A recent development however gave hope as Ministry of Climate Change officials have approached the federal government to get a new firefighting plane to deal with the issue.
It was learnt that the demand was tabled during a Senate Standing Committee meeting on Climate Change, in which officials mulled several issues related to climate change.
Besides demanding an air tanker, officials also mentioned Clean Air Policy that includes recommendations for reducing pollution in several industries. During the meeting, officials highlighted that Pakistan is still yet to adopt Euro2 fully while neighboring nations have moved to Euro4 fuel.
Last year, an emergency was declared in the county’s mountainous region neighboring Iran in wake of a massive fire at the world’s largest pine forest in Koh-e-Suleman in which thousands of farmers have lost their only source of income.
Millions of trees turned to ashes, causing billions of rupees in losses on the local communities who are dependent on the harvest of pine nuts for generations while Pakistan got no aircraft to douse the inferno.
Later, Iran sends its massive Ilyushin Il-76 air tanker to put out a blaze that raged for nearly a fortnight. Pakistan is the among vulnerable countries in wake of extreme weather caused by climate change, while the government has made no major steps to cope with the situation.
Pakistan, China agree to establish joint monitoring system for forest fires
