Universities and Industry to Tackle Environmental Pollution

The Higher Education Commission (HEC) is strengthening Departments of Environmental Sciences in various universities to tackle the problems related to environment themes. This was stated by Prof. Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman, Chairman Higher Education Commission while speaking as Chief Guest at a seminar on ‘University-Industry Interaction for Abatement of Environmental Pollution and Climate Change’ organized by International Islamic University Islamabad in collaboration with Higher Education Commission and Tourism Promotion Services Limited.
‘We are confronting an impending environmental disaster as this part of the world is going to be among the worst affected in the next 30-50 years’, said Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman. He said that the realization of the depletion of the ozone layer and global warming has been there for the last two decades, and the Kyoto Protocol has been signed by most countries. Government commitment was required to deal with environment issues. He stated that there was mounting evidence that over the next 20-25 years, there would be devastating floods in the rivers of Pakistan due to rapid melting of glaciers. This would be followed by an even more critical period of drought as the rivers would dry up due to insufficient ice on the glaciers, causing desertification. It was therefore vitally important to build large number of dams to store excess water over the next 10-15 years which would be used in subsequent long periods of drought.
The option of renewable or wind energies for general use in Pakistan is also not a possibility at the present, he said. France however produces 70 % of its energy through nuclear energy.
Among the institutions funded by HEC are departments of Environmental Sciences are at present functioning at Peshawar University, Mehran University of Engineering and Technology, Jamshoro, University of Agiculture, Faisalabad and Lahore College for Women University Lahore.
Mr. Azam Jamil, Corporate Director, Tourism Promotion Services, in his welcome address stressed the contribution of Serena hotels in upholding environmental safety measures and integrating technology and people’s participation for regulatory compliance, resource conversation and disposal of wastes.
Dr. Anwar H. Siddiqui, President International Islamic University stressed the importance of science and technology and revealed that IIU was now branching out in fields of science as there was no difference between Islamic and non-Islamic subjects. He hoped that the University’s Department of Environment would develop into a Centre of Excellence. Dr. Rozina Tufail, MNA and Chairperson National Committee of Science and High Tech for Economic Growth also spoke on the occasion.
The seminar provided a forum to enhance the futuristic liaison of universities with industry and is meant to bridge the gap between industrial environmental problems and their mitigation on research based approach by providing an edge to the environmental student groups in particular to gain exposure with the industrial practical environmental concerns and recommending mitigation plans to them and developing Clean Development Mechanisms (CDM) by the industry for establishing a framework for abatement of environmental pollution and climate change. link....