Mangrove forests, which shield Karachi’s coastline from storms, strong winds, coastal floods, and other climate change-related disasters, are seriously threatened by the city’s expanding concrete jungle.
According to a recent report by WWF-Pakistan, large areas of mangroves have been destroyed for residential developments as well as commercial and industrial projects along the Karachi coast. The study also identified regions where significant deforestation remained a danger to mangrove ecosystems.
According to the paper, enforcing regulations strictly and promoting reforestation and natural regeneration initiatives are necessary to avoid the deterioration of mangroves along Karachi’s coastline. It issued a warning that current mangrove areas may be eliminated or destroyed in the event that preventive actions are not done in a timely manner.
Over the past 20 years, geospatial specialists at WWF-Pakistan’s Richard Garstang Conservation Lab have collected data on Karachi’s mangrove cover using Earth Observation Satellites, Remote Sensing, and GIS tools. They discovered that the fast reduction in Karachi’s mangrove cover is a direct consequence of land reclamation and mangrove cutting for housing developments and development projects.
WWF-Pakistan emphasized the need for improved planning, efficient implementation strategies, and coordinated measures by pertinent organizations and departments in order to stop the continued loss of mangroves along Karachi’s coastline in light of this report.
