ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Climate Change Mushahid Ullah Khan has stated that government is doing its dire struggles to control environmental degradation that costs more than Rs 365 billion to national economy every year.
“These efforts for the environmental conservation and protection are part of election manifesto of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) and I would leave no stone unturned to put into reality my party’s promise,” the minister vowed.
Giving break-up of the losses, he said that out of Rs365 billion losses, inadequate water supply, sanitation and hygiene account for Rs112 billion, agricultural soil degradation Rs70 billion, indoor pollution Rs 67 billion, urban air pollution Rs 65 billion, lead exposure Rs 45 billion and land degradation and deforestation Rs 6 billion.
In a statement issued here, the minister said he believed that access to clean environment, of which people’s access to clean drinking water and safe sanitation are central part, is one of the basic rights of every citizen for healthy survival and overall socio-economic development of the country.
