Sanitation: Pollution unlimited

May 7th, 2012

Pakistan is facing complex water and sanitation problems in rural, urban and semi-urban communities. This problem is not new for our society; however implications linked with this sector have a direct impact on health, specifically on children. Poor water and sanitation is a leading cause of about 60 per cent of child mortality in Pakistan and patients suffering water-related diseases occupy 20 to 40 per cent of hospital beds in Pakistan.

The severity of an already pathetic situation has been augmented by the 2010-11 floods. According to the World Bank (2006) estimate, annually Pakistan bears a cost of Rs365 billion due to environmental degradation; out of this, Rs112 billion accounts for inadequate water supply, sanitation and hygiene. Out of this, the annual expenditure connected merely to water-related stomach diseases is estimated at about Rs55-80 billion. Sindh is at the top having diarrhoeal alerts and outbreaks which are higher than the average in Pakistan. We will try to explore reasons and barriers hindering improved water and sanitation facilities in Sindh province.

In Karachi and Hyderabad there are some areas where people have access to somewhat better water and sanitation facilities, but not all areas of these cities enjoy this luxury. Slums and semi-urban areas often lack these basic amenities altogether, and sometimes fare even worse than rural sites. A major chunk of population in Sindh is living in rural and far-flung areas where water and sanitation facilities are either insufficient or totally absent. If available, they are non-functional and no one takes responsibility for upkeep and maintenance while the role and willingness of concerned authorities including the Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) and Taluka Municipal Administration (TMA) for their improvement is questionable.

United Nation says access to safe drinking water and sanitation is a fundamental human need and therefore a basic human right.
The National Drinking Water Policy, 2009 in its preamble, mentions that providing safe drinking water to the entire population at an affordable cost is the responsibility of the state yet, the majority of rural Sindh and particularly communities living in remote areas lack safe water. The Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) reports that only 42 per cent of water supply schemes in rural Sindh are working. However, only the functioning of water supply schemes is not enough; are these schemes meeting the recommended drinking water quality parameters? Do these schemes have trained technical staff and water testing facilities? Unfortunately, the answer is no, therefore, public health is always at risk.

Rural communities of Sindh mostly rely on either surface canal water or groundwater boreholes and hand pumps for drinking purpose. Surface water is heavily loaded with organic pollution and faecal contamination is a major health concern in children and other age groups. There is a well-established link between intake of faecal-contaminated water and waterborne diseases.
Unfortunately, more than 80 per cent of water at source and household level is faecal-contaminated and does not meet WHO drinking water standards, except some sources where deep boreholes are possible.

It is pertinent to mention that the majority of villages in the coastal districts of Sindh including Badin and Thatta do not even have the option for groundwater because of high levels of salinity due to seawater intrusion. Other parts of Sindh face a similar problem but the coastal belt needs more attention.

Secondly, the hand pumps largely prevalent in rural Sindh, ultimately contaminate the water, even if the original source is safe.
This is because the community is not given any guidance regarding proper usage and maintenance of the concrete base which ultimately leads to seepage and contamination of the soil water. In addition, low quality hand pump material tends to rust causing iron contamination; the traditional design of the hand pump encourages algal growth in the outlet pipe which contaminates the water passing through it.

The million-dollar question is, how can common villagers learn whether the source they are drawing water from is safe from chemical and biological contamination, except on the basis of their traditional and folk knowledge, as there is no facility to get water tested quickly, scientifically and cheaply. Different types of chemical contamination including arsenic have been observed and vary from region to region across Sindh. Though the government has established water testing laboratories in some districts of Sindh, ironically the laboratory fee is about Rs1,700 for a single water sample analysis. Is it feasible for poor people, who are worrying about where their next meal will come from, to pay this amount?

Besides the provision of safe drinking water, adequate sanitation and hygiene conditions are equally important for the development of healthy communities. However, the sanitation situation in Sindh is perhaps, even darker than access to safe water. The sewage system is breaking down everywhere and open defecation is still a norm in rural communities. A national survey regarding knowledge levels, attitudes and practices for sanitation and hygiene conducted by the Ministry of Environment in 2001 revealed that the masses do not explicitly understand the link between unsafe excreta disposal and diarrhoea.

There is great need of political will combined with culturally accepted technical solutions to improve water and sanitation programmes on emergency basis in the country, as it is a lifesaving matter. The World Health Organisation suggests that investment of $1 in water and sanitation would generate an economic return between $3 to $34, depending on the region and technologies applied. Therefore, investment in water and sanitation is not a big deal, as it will pay multiple dividends in the national interest.

The writer is an Environmental Health professional, associated with an international organisation.

Source: http://dawn.com/2012/05/06/sanitation-pollution-unlimited/

Extra Value Checks

Tags: drinking water, Pakistan, safe drinking water, water and sanitation
Posted in Climate change | No Comments »

Science & technology parks

February 11th, 2012

In today’s knowledge driven world, education, science, technology and innovation are the key pillars for socio-economic development. The promotion of innovation involves several important facets that include ease of doing business, legal infra-structure to facilitate IPR and new start-up companies, access to Venture Capital funds, creation of industrial clusters, incentivisation of private sector research and development (R & D) and government technology transfer policies.

Science and technology parks (S&T parks) are a potential source of knowledge-based industries, and are increasingly viewed as an essential component of the knowledge economy. The concept of science and technology parks is embedded in clustering of knowledge producing institutions with a group of interconnected local and multinational companies. Co-location is believed to facilitate learning, technology transfer, and helps in achieving knowledge-based industrial growth. S&T parks provide office buildings, laboratory space, infrastructure facilities and expertise where new research and ideas generated by universities are tested and commercialised. Most S&T parks also host business incubators, which provide physical space, management assistance, coaching on business plans, access to capital and equipment, technology and feasibility studies for marketing.

Currently about 1,500 science and technology parks and approximately 3,000 incubators are operational worldwide and 70 percent of these are located in the developed countries. The most successful examples include the Silicon Valley, USA, the Cambridge Science Park in the UK, the Hsinchu Science and Technology Park in Taiwan, the Daedeok Science Town in South Korea and the Science and Technology Park and Biopolis in Singapore.

Two particularly demonstrative examples of the role of science and technology parks towards transformation of the economy from a low value resource base economy to a high value added knowledge base are those of Singapore and Taiwan.

Singapore science and technology park and biopolis: Singapore is a small country with a population of 4.5 million. It had per capita GDP of US$ 480 in the 1960s, which has risen to US$43,867 in the year 2010. Singapore has also attracted foreign universities such as John Hopkins and MIT to deliver their courses to Singapore’s students.

The Singapore science park was envisioned as part of its science and technology based economic vision. The park, established in 1984, has been successful in attracting multinational firms, which are required to conduct at least 50 percent of their R&D in the park. Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) created a US$1.0 billion Techno-Entrepreneurship Investment Fund to attract leading venture capital companies to support new start-ups companies in the park and provided training to venture capital professionals.

EDB also encourages joint ventures through innovation fund where EDB matches dollar for dollar up to a maximum of US$300,000. Singapore’s ICT revenue reached US$22.6 billion in 2010.The production of data storage devices accounted for half of the global total and had created 100 local companies by 2003. Singapore has the second largest cluster of aerospace maintenance, repair and overhaul activities. It also has a 70 percent market share in the manufacture of offshore oilrigs. The biopolis complex focuses on development of biotechnology and it is home to five of Singapore’s biotechnology institutes. Biopolis has attracted not only local talent but also top class international talent from abroad. International bio-medical companies, such as Novartis and Glaxo SmithKline (GSK) have established their research and manufacturing operations in the biopolis.

Hsinchu Science Park, Taiwan: Taiwan is an Island of 20 million people and had a per capita GDP of US$170 in the 1960s, which has grown to US$20,848 in 2011. The export of information technology products from Taiwan grew from US$100 million in the 1980s to over US$ 21 billion in 1999. High technology exports comprise half of Taiwan’s GDP. Taiwan’s government during 1960s-1970s was dominated by technocrats, mostly educated in the US and Japan in engineering and science subjects. Inspired by the success of Silicon Valley, they made investments in education and training of high quality technical manpower and engineers.

The emergence of Taiwan’s IT industry owes its growth to the multinational companies operating in Taiwan during the 1960s-1970s. Taiwan attracted FDI from the US and Japan by providing generous incentives and availability of highly skilled low cost labour for consumer electronics manufacturing in its export processing zones.

The Hsinchu Science Park was established in the 1980s and contributes approximately 10 percent to Taiwanese economy. The park employs 102,000 people and generates about US$28 billion in sales. Its infrastructure and educational facilities include two universities, the national Tsing Hua and National Chiao Tung and a research institute, Institute for Technology, Research and Industry (ITRI). The government supported a venture capital industry where government banks were asked to invest up to 49 percent share in joint ventures. Taiwanese Diaspora that returned from the US started their own companies in the park. The park now hosts some 300 high technology companies, 113 of which were set up by the diaspora.

The Pakistan Technology Park Disaster: In Pakistan a wonderful scheme to establish foreign universities of engineering & technology with integrated technology parks was launched in 2006. These were the Italian, French and Korean Universities/Technology Parks in Karachi, The German and Austrian Universities/Technology Parks in Lahore, The Swedish University/Technology Park in Faisalabad and the Chinese University/Technology Park in Islamabad.

Discussions were under way with the Turkish and Japanese governments for establishment of their universities/technology parks in Peshawar and Quetta. Some 60 international companies were expected to establish international R & D centres in Pakistan, and giants such as Siemens and Ericsson were agreeable to set up such centres in the German and Swedish universities, thereby providing a huge boost to our efforts to develop a knowledge based economy.

The cost of these projects was only 7 percent higher than the cost of building Pakistani universities, and they would have saved Rs100 billion annually presently spent by parents in sending their children for education abroad. The projects were approved by ECNEC in February 2008. Classes were scheduled to begin in October 2008 and plans to hire foreign faculty members had been finalised. Then disaster struck. The new government decided that Pakistan did not need this visionary network of foreign universities/technology parks and abandoned the whole scheme, much to the annoyance of the foreign countries who had done a lot of work in planning these visionary projects.

A wonderful opportunity was alas lost due to the short-sightedness of our leaders. Valiant efforts are now being made by National University of Science & Technology (Islamabad) to establish a flourishing technology park.

Prof Atta-ur-Rahman is the president, Pakistan Academy of Sciences, former federal minister for science & technology and former chairman of the Higher Education Commission. Dr S T K Naim is an expert on STI Policy and consultant at COMSTECH, Islamabad

Source: www.thenews.com.pk  Feb. 11, 2012

Excel Solutions for Engineers

Tags: development, knowledge, park, percent, Science and technology, Singapore, Taiwan, technology
Posted in Technology | No Comments »

Solar Energy Projects in Pakistan

December 25th, 2011

We have noticed a great changes in policies and improvements in policies of different governments, especially in Europe and America but what about Pakistan.

Can our engineers comment on this topic.

Tags: Energy, Europe and America, improvements, Pakistan, Solar, Solar Energy Projects, topic
Posted in Solar Energy | No Comments »

Neelum-Jhelum hydropower project — an engineering marvel

December 5th, 2011

On paper it might be just another project whose cost has risen from Rs102 billion to Rs333 billion that is expected to be regularised on Wednesday when Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani chairs a dedicated meeting of the cabinet committee on energy.
On the ground, however, the Neelum-Jhelum hydropower project seems to be an engineering marvel, the completion of which will not only provide 969MW of cheap electricity to the national grid, but also secure Pakistan’s water rights over the Neelum River, currently under threat from India’s water aggression. A group of journalists visited the area recently. Of the combined 55km length of the tunnel, about 18km is now complete, including eight smaller tunnels. The 32-km main tunnel, which is to divert Neelum waters from Nauseri to Chattar Kalas, has achieved about 4km progress. The mighty Neelum has already been diverted through smaller 500-metre diversion tunnel to dry out the riverbed for construction of 786-foot dam that is currently in progress. With just 30 per cent physical progress, the project has already started to change Azad Kashmir’s landscape. A few kilometers from the Line of Control, 41km off Azad Kashmir’s capital Muzaffarabad where even the armed forced used to have access through a narrow jeepable track often blocked by landslides and snow, a small locality of Nauseri, in the Neelum Valley, now has wide carpeted access road. The presence of foreigners from as far as China and Venezuela and their interaction with local engineers and professionals is already witnessing a cultural change. With this, hundreds of locals are getting on-job training, dozens of others being trained for tunnel boring machines (TBMs) in Germany and many others setting up businesses around the project area. The construction of critical desander at the inlet of the project has, however, been marred by minor disputes with the residents who are still resisting evacuation of the areas despite fully compensated. The first component of the project is therefore facing a one-year delay as the local authorities struggle to manage a delicate dispute so close the Line of Control. “All other components of the project are either ahead of schedule or on time,” according to General (retd) Mohammad Zubair, the chief executive officer of the Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower Company (NJHC) – a special-purpose vehicle created for the project implementation. About 22-km downstream Muzaffarabad at Chattar Kalas, a mock exercise has just been completed for transportation of the country’s first TBM on a 70-ton 64 wheeler. The people of the area have never seen a truck of more than 21 tons weight. The introduction of TBM that would advance the project completion by up to 24 months, originally lost to bureaucratic and political indecisiveness, is expected to revolutionise tunnel excavation techniques in Pakistan. In comparison, there are about 22 TBMs currently in operation in India. “Our major focus now is to ensure that TBM reaches project site by the end of February so that its starts operations before the rainy season in March,” says Gen Zubair. The TBM components have reached China from Germany and are currently under assembling process. The machine will arrive in Karachi by the end of January from where it will take about three weeks to reach Muzaffarabad. The TBM will expedite the construction of 32-km tunnel that has to pass 400-metre underneath the Jhelum riverbed to reach Chattar Kalas where an underground powerhouse will be located to dispatch 5.15 billion units of electricity per annum to national grid at Ghakkar Mandi near Gujranwala. Gen Zubair’s another worry is the expansion in the board of directors of NJHC which is expected to be approved by the prime minister on Dec 7. Currently, the board is led by the Wapda chairman and comprises three members and three chief engineers. The federal government wants inclusion of an additional secretary each of the water and power ministry and economic affairs division and special secretary of the finance ministry to have direct access to the information relating to financial aspects of the project. In view of a huge financing of Rs333 billion, the federal government may have a point in having direct monitoring, Gen Zubair’s concern is that this may cause delays in decision making. “Currently we can call a board meeting on a day’s notice to resolve hitches in the project implementation given its national importance; it may take time to secure time from federal officers once they are on the board,” he said. The cost escalation because of involvement of TBM, change in design and specifications after the 2005 earthquake and more importantly currency depreciation, has forced the government to secure $1.5 billion loans and equity participation from the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) and Islamic Development Bank (IDB) for the project, now facing a financing shortfall of over Rs232 billion ($2.7 billion). Separately, negotiations are already in advanced stages for finalisation of a $450 million (Rs39 billion) loan from the Exim Bank of China to bridge a huge financing gap arising out of over 296 per cent or Rs250 billion cost escalation. The government was also considering raising funds from the local market through public-private participation, inviting leading banks, business houses and common citizens through different financial products, including long-term bonds for institutions and share sale through public subscription in view of project’s strong economic viability despite cost overruns. While the IDB usually provides commercial loans, it is the SFD whose financing is normally considered a soft-term support. The Fund’s loans are generally without conditions, made available quite quickly and easily and its repayment conditions are generous for up to 50 years plus 10-year grace period with servicing costs at about one per cent. Up to 60 per cent of such loans could be outright grants. The project offers robust returns of about 22.5 per cent which meant the project cost could be recovered within 7 years after completion by mid-2016. Even with increased cost, the average electricity generation cost has been estimated at about Rs2 per unit after first eight years of interest repayment. The external financing had become all the more crucial for speedy deployment of TBM and its synchronisation with river crossing effort that is expected to reduce project implementation time by at least 18-24 months. The contract for the project was awarded to a Chinese contractor (CGGC-CMEC) in Dec 2007. On the other hand, India planned to construct 18 hydropower projects along Neelum and Jhelum rivers, providing it with freedom to divert Neelum waters towards Wullar Lake in violation of the Indus Waters Treaty. The Kishenganga hydropower project that has been challenged by Pakistan before the international court of arbitration could reduce river flows at Nauseri – the off-take point of Neelum-Jhelum project – by a minimum of 7 per cent and a maximum of 34 per cent, with an expected energy loss of 13 per cent of $141 million (Rs13 billion) per annum. This loss of capacity will be overcome through a 45MW additional power house at a diversion spillway.   Write: Khaleeq Kiani Source: Dawn.com.pk   December 05, 2011

Posted in Civil Engineering | No Comments »

Pakistan’s first Communications Satellite PAKSAT-1R launched

August 14th, 2011

Pakistan’s first Communications Satellite PAKSAT-1R, as a part of Pakistan’s Space Programme 2040, was launched on Thursday at 2117 hrs on board China’s Satellite Launch Vehicle from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre.

PAKSAT-1R has a total of 30 transponders, 12 in C-band and 18 in Ku-band.

The satellite will be deployed at 380E in the Geo-stationary orbit and it will replace the existing satellite PAKSAT-1.

PAKSAT-1R has a design life of 15 years and will provide TV broadcasting, Internet and data communication services across South and Central Asia, Eastern Europe, East Africa and the Far East. This satellite now enables extending of communication services to all areas of Pakistan.

The National Command Authority (NCA) recently approved Pakistan’s Space Programme 2040 during its meeting at the Strategic Plans Division (SPD) on 14 July 2011.

Earlier, the contract for the development of PAKSAT-1R was signed between Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) and China Great Wall Industry Corporation (CGWIC) in October 2008 during the visit of the President of Pakistan to China.

Pakistani engineers have worked closely with their Chinese counterparts during all stages of development of the satellite in China. Some experimental units developed at SUPARCO have also been integrated on the satellite for technology evaluation.

China and Pakistan have enjoyed more than 20 years of cooperation in Space Science, Technology and Applications.

The launch of Paksat-1R Satellite is a major milestone for both countries towards strengthening of this cooperation.

SUPARCO will continue its efforts for launching of other satellites including Remote Sensing Satellites, to ensure that the space technology applications fully contribute to socio-economic development and national security in Pakistan.

Source: www.dawn.com

Tags: communication, data communication services, development, launch, satellite, space science technology, space technology applications, stationary orbit, upper atmosphere research, Xichang
Posted in Satelite Technology | 1 Comment »

Need for coastal uplift projects stressed

May 15th, 2011

Experts at a workshop on Saturday stressed the need for launching a massive awareness campaign among all stakeholders about the importance of the coastal zone so that they could join hands and use their natural resources in a sustainable manner.

Speaking at a three-day international workshop on Integrated Coastal Management Planning for Pakistan organised jointly by the National Commission for Unesco and the National Institute of Oceanography, they urged the stakeholders — the government, NGOs, coastal communities, etc — to join hands to protect the coastal zone and also to develop it on a sustainable basis as it was a mammoth job that could not be done by any single body.They said that the country has nearly 990-kilometre-long coast and it had three kinds of problems.

A group of scientists that discussed the issues relating to the Makran coast said that the largest portion of the coast — almost 770 kilomtres — was in Balochistan and its major threats included occurrence of earthquake, tsunami, cyclone or some
effect on its coral reefs and some navigational issues owing to temporary emergence of new islands.

They suggested that some sort of an early-warning system be deployed so coastal communities could know about emerging threats.

They suggested forestation along the coast to counter the issue of erosion. Expressing concern over the security situation, they suggested that the law and order situation be improved.

The group discussed the issues relating to the Sindh coast — roughly 220 kilometres — and said that while the coast along the city was heavily polluted the Indus delta was shrinking owing to less supplies of freshwater and mindless cutting of
mangroves. Seawater intrusion was also a big issue that had affected subsoil water as well as agricultural fields.

Earlier, a former Sindh environment secretary who is currently working with the Sindh Coastal Development Authority, Shams-ul-Haq Memon, said that mangrove trees and oil palms were being planted and currently healthcare facilities had also been extended to the island communities by boat.

Dr Shahid Amjad said that at least 10 million acre feet of freshwater supply was required for the healthy survival of the Indus delta, which currently was not being provided regularly.

He suggested that if traditional wisdom and scientific knowledge was combined, the results could be achieved sooner and more easily.

He also suggested that the banned small-mesh nets should not be used for fishing as juvenile fish were caught and fish stock as a whole was affected and subsequently the economy of the fishermen also suffered.

Balochistan Coastal Development Authority chief Akber Lashari said that the Balochistan coast had many beautiful sites, including the scenic beach at Kund Malir, natural sculptures at Rasmalan, Hingol National Park, which could be developed for tourists.

Dr Rashid Tabrez said that owing to the movement of continental plates near the Makran coast, energy and gasses were released and small islands emerged for a short time and then submerged as had happened at least twice in the past couple of decades near the mouth of the Hingol River.

He suggested that studies be done, since hydrocarbon or some other resources could be found there.

Paras Siddiqui, Nuzhat Khan, Pervez Asghar, Rasool Bux Bhutto and others also spoke in the morning session after which groups were formed that discussed and identified issues relating to the Makran and Sindh coasts.

Besides a large number of local scientists, experts from China, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Turkey, Lebanon, the United Kingdom also participated in the workshop that was conducted by Dr Hina Baig.

The scientists are scheduled to go on a cruise to the Indus delta as well as Balochistan waters on Sunday morning to witness environmental degradation.

 

Tags: coastal uplift, coastal zone, Integrated Coastal Management Planning for Pakistan, National Institute of Oceanography
Posted in Civil Engineering | No Comments »

Significance of climate change in Pakistan

March 6th, 2011

We often read statements like ‘climate change is a reality’. What needs to be clarified is the difference between climate change and global warming, both terms which are sometimes used interchangeably. Being a sub-set of climate change, global warming is a problem attributed to an increase in greenhouse gases due to industrial activity, especially in the past two centuries. The climate change hype, however, is not without controversy. In this blog post, it is endeavored to form an honest opinion about the significance of climate change, specifically looking at Pakistan since it has been listed as one of the vulnerable countries. This is especially significant as the impact of climate change on Pakistan is very alarming, which can lead to multi-faceted problems.

It is necessary to understand that in addition to current data, pre-historic global patterns of climate change have been researched and recorded. And it is the departure from this natural pattern that the scientists are worried about. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s fourth assessment report, AR4 2007, an increase of 0.6 degrees Celsius during last century and a likely increase of 2 to 4 degrees Celsius in the twenty-first century, is expected despite necessary measures being adopted to counter its effects all over the world.

Although 186 countries signed the Kyoto Protocol in Bonn in 2001, countries such as the US and Australia disagreed. The bone of contention is regarding the reduction of anthropogenic, i.e., man-made, greenhouse gas emissions (CO2, CH4, N2O, HFCs, PFCs, and SF6) by at least 5 per cent between 2008 and 2012. This is so because reducing these gas emissions directly impacts their economy and development goals. The urgency of the situation has been established by the fact that higher temperatures are being recorded each year. We have observed unprecedented floods in Pakistan in July/August 2010 besides other unusual events and, in the southern hemisphere, Australia and Brazil were in the grip of raging flood waters. Sense of concern shown during subsequent Copenhagen Accord less than a couple of years ago and lately, the Cancun Agreement, manifests the lack of interest and the lop-sided approach by various governments.

There are people who hold the opinion that man-made global warming is a physical impossibility and attribute as an unnecessary fear. They believe that there are political and financial motives. Names like Margaret Thatcher and Al Gore are often heard in this connection for gaining political mileage. This group strongly disagrees that man has to do with the unnatural rise in temperature and that polar ice and glaciers are melting in accordance with nature’s plan. While the Himalayan glaciers may not melt completely in the next thirty years, the occurrence does sound alarm bells. It is believed that in countries such as Pakistan, Maldives, Nepal and Bhutan, the situation is ostensibly far more challenging.

The important question for Pakistan is: How to interpret the phenomenon of climate change? We need to understand what man-made change (largely caused by the developed world) means to us. The sub-continent is densely populated with just a 5 per cent of the area covered with trees and jungles. It comprises a vast area that has very high average temperatures. Housing designs are such that earth surface heat radiation index stays high. Also, it is surrounded by a large body of water i.e., the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean. Even a small increase in average temperature means large amounts of heat content available can cause abnormal weather conditions leading to flash floods. Thus an anomalous rise in temperature would raise the severity level in the area every few years, with an increased frequency of occurrence.

In-depth knowledge in this regard is needed for the prosperity and health of the country. We need to realise that extreme weather conditions will result in droughts, severe winters, localised imbalance of oxygen-carbon dioxide percentages, underground water shortages that will directly affect hydel power, food, agriculture, health and a host of other sectors.

Despite a raised awareness level in Pakistan, a cohesive approach is amiss. Besides policy failure in the energy sector, deforestation is taking place at a rapid speed. There have been numerous reports of tree-cutting at a rapid pace, in and around the large cities of the country.

The good news is that people have started talking about climate change and are trying to delve deeper into the underlying factors to look for solutions. Recently, a meeting was held under the joint collaboration of the Environment Protection Department Punjab with the Ministry of Environment and the UN One joint programme on National Climate Change Policy Draft. The main focus was on the adaptation in accordance with the climate change. A joint strategy by sharing knowledge and resources, not only at the local but also at regional level for instance SAARC, would be extremely helpful in dealing with abnormal departure from climatic variations. It is essential to revisit the minute details of water treaties the country has made with India in light of climate change.

Pakistan has to continuously focus all aspects of climatic variations in order to harmonise with correlated adaptability. Destruction of crops and livestock in a number of African countries is a glaring example of lack of understanding such natural hazards in the absence of a cohesive plan. We need to conduct research through a 3-D mapping of underground water levels in the country and its flow from various directions, so that underground water reservoirs and their status is known for optimum usage. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), in association with the concerned departments, should be made responsible to spearhead all important scientific and managerial activities to keep the country at par with the international standards.

The writer is a retired Chief Engineer PTCL and a radio engineer with special interest in ionospheric and tropospheric composition as well as climatology.

Source: http://blog.dawn.com/2011/03/05/significance-of-climate-change-in-pakistan/

Tags: awareness level in Pakistan, climate change, global warming, greenhouse gases, SAARC
Posted in Climate change | No Comments »

Helping You Make and Share Calculations with MS Excel

March 1st, 2011

Recently I visited an exelent website which claims to “Use our XLC add-in for Excel to display cell formulas as easily readable mathematical equations. Now that cell formulae can be checked directly against the text book you’ll never insert an incorrect cell formula again! It works in the familiar Excel environment so it’s easy to learn and can be universally read. Downloading worked solutions from the Repository gives you a head start in solving technical problems and you can even talk to the calculation authors if you need help. Video material provides extensive XLC and Excel tutorials”.

Although there are so many other websites but I found it unique. You can also visit it.

Tags: free calculations, free software, structural calculation, structural engineers
Posted in Civil Engineering | 1 Comment »

Sun, wind & waves

January 20th, 2011

We are quoting a news from a newspaer “THE NEWS” as :

“Speaking on Monday in Abu Dhabi at the four-day World Future Energy Summit, President Asif Ali Zardari shared his vision of the future for Pakistan. He said that we needed the economy to grow at an annual rate of eight per cent just for us to maintain our current standard of living. Considering that a large proportion of the population is food-insecure and hovering at or below the poverty line, this must have been a comforting thought for them and the seven million or so still displaced by last year’s flood. The president said our current energy capacity in terms of generation was 20,000MW and that needed to double within a decade to meet our economic targets. He omitted to mention, of course, that the system as installed rarely operated at more than 60 per cent of its capacity and that much of it was shut down because of the failure of his government to manage it any better than would a blind beggar.

The president’s vision included a picture of a Pakistan where solar power, wind and wave energy was the way forwards, and he may be right. He lauded the United Arab Emirates (UAE) where the world’s largest solar energy project is ‘in process’ as being a model for the use of sustainable energy that we might all aspire to – and again he may be right. In both cases he omitted to mention that the UAE is rolling in money, has a tiny and very wealthy population and enjoys relative political and social stability – none of which attributes we have in any abundance. To get the best out of alternative energy sources you need very large amounts of money to develop both the technology and the infrastructure, and then a population with a collective disposable income to pay the electricity bills.”

We have observed, so many investers are willing to invest in power generation projects in Pakistan but the problem is who fill the pockets with money of the politicians and department heads. I personally know an engineer who went to Pakistan on behalf of a company to build a solar city but when he had meetings with concerned department and when he was asked to pay advance commission, he was upset and refused at spot.

The company later on invested in India.

My Pakistani Brothers and sisters…. If you need power, gas and other basic consumables, you and your politician have to think “FIRST PAKISTAN”.

Tags: corruption in pakistan, electric power in pakistan, gas in pakistan
Posted in Energy in Pakistan | No Comments »

The common editorial on climate change

December 7th, 2009

Below is the text of the common editorial on climate change. Fifty-six newspapers from around the world have committed to speaking with a single voice on the eve of the Copenhagen conference by running identical editorials on December 7. The News op-ed pages have been a proud participant in the preparation of this call for politicians and states to transcend parochialism and deliver a meaningful deal for the world.

Today 56 newspapers in 44 countries take the unprecedented step of speaking with one voice through a common editorial. We do so because humanity faces a profound emergency.

Unless we combine to take decisive action, climate change will ravage our planet, and with it our prosperity and security. The dangers have been becoming apparent for a generation. Now the facts have started to speak: 11 of the past 14 years have been the warmest on record, the Arctic ice-cap is melting and last year’s inflamed oil and food prices provide a foretaste of future havoc. In scientific journals the question is no longer whether humans are to blame, but how little time we have got left to limit the damage. Yet so far the world’s response has been feeble and half-hearted.

Climate change has been caused over centuries, has consequences that will endure for all time and our prospects of taming it will be determined in the next 14 days. We call on the representatives of the 192 countries gathered in Copenhagen not to hesitate, not to fall into dispute, not to blame each other but to seize opportunity from the greatest modern failure of politics. This should not be a fight between the rich world and the poor world, or between east and west. Climate change affects everyone, and must be solved by everyone.

The science is complex but the facts are clear. The world needs to take steps to limit temperature rises to 2C, an aim that will require global emissions to peak and begin falling within the next 5-10 years. A bigger rise of 3-4C — the smallest increase we can prudently expect to follow inaction — would parch continents, turning farmland into desert. Half of all species could become extinct, untold millions of people would be displaced, whole nations drowned by the sea.

Few believe that Copenhagen can any longer produce a fully polished treaty; real progress towards one could only begin with the arrival of President Obama in the White House and the reversal of years of US obstructionism. Even now the world finds itself at the mercy of American domestic politics, for the president cannot fully commit to the action required until the US Congress has done so.

But the politicians in Copenhagen can and must agree the essential elements of a fair and effective deal and, crucially, a firm timetable for turning it into a treaty. Next June’s UN climate meeting in Bonn should be their deadline. As one negotiator put it: “We can go into extra time but we can’t afford a replay.”

At the deal’s heart must be a settlement between the rich world and the developing world covering how the burden of fighting climate change will be divided — and how we will share a newly precious resource: the trillion or so tonnes of carbon that we can emit before the mercury rises to dangerous levels.

Rich nations like to point to the arithmetic truth that there can be no solution until developing giants such as China take more radical steps than they have so far. But the rich world is responsible for most of the accumulated carbon in the atmosphere – three-quarters of all carbon dioxide emitted since 1850. It must now take a lead, and every developed country must commit to deep cuts which will reduce their emissions within a decade to very substantially less than their 1990 level.

Developing countries can point out they did not cause the bulk of the problem, and also that the poorest regions of the world will be hardest hit. But they will increasingly contribute to warming, and must thus pledge meaningful and quantifiable action of their own. Though both fell short of what some had hoped for, the recent commitments to emissions targets by the world’s biggest polluters, the United States and China, were important steps in the right direction.

Social justice demands that the industrialised world digs deep into its pockets and pledges cash to help poorer countries adapt to climate change, and clean technologies to enable them to grow economically without growing their emissions. The architecture of a future treaty must also be pinned down – with rigorous multilateral monitoring, fair rewards for protecting forests, and the credible assessment of “exported emissions” so that the burden can eventually be more equitably shared between those who produce polluting products and those who consume them. And fairness requires that the burden placed on individual developed countries should take into account their ability to bear it; for instance newer EU members, often much poorer than “old Europe”, must not suffer more than their richer partners.

The transformation will be costly, but many times less than the bill for bailing out global finance — and far less costly than the consequences of doing nothing.

Many of us, particularly in the developed world, will have to change our lifestyles. The era of flights that cost less than the taxi ride to the airport is drawing to a close. We will have to shop, eat and travel more intelligently. We will have to pay more for our energy, and use less of it.

But the shift to a low-carbon society holds out the prospect of more opportunity than sacrifice. Already some countries have recognized that embracing the transformation can bring growth, jobs and better quality lives. The flow of capital tells its own story: last year for the first time more was invested in renewable forms of energy than producing electricity from fossil fuels.

Kicking our carbon habit within a few short decades will require a feat of engineering and innovation to match anything in our history. But whereas putting a man on the moon or splitting the atom were born of conflict and competition, the coming carbon race must be driven by a collaborative effort to achieve collective salvation.

Overcoming climate change will take a triumph of optimism over pessimism, of vision over short-sightedness, of what Abraham Lincoln called “the better angels of our nature”.

It is in that spirit that [56] newspapers from around the world have united behind this editorial. If we, with such different national and political perspectives, can agree on what must be done then surely our leaders can too.

The politicians in Copenhagen have the power to shape history’s judgment on this generation: one that saw a challenge and rose to it, or one so stupid that we saw calamity coming but did nothing to avert it. We implore them to make the right choice.

Source: www.thenews.com.pk, Monday, December 07, 2009

Tags: climate change and G-8
Posted in Climate change | 1 Comment »

« Older Entries