KARACHI – The wonderful Indus Delta is on the verge on destruction and its vast scattered area in the past and creeks are now shrinking rapidly due to the reducing flows in river Indus in downstream Kotri, sea intrusion, climate change and massive cutting of mangrove forests.
The delta, also called Daryah jo Chhor in Sindhi (end of a river), was supposed to be one of the great deltaic regions in South Asia due to its variety of trees, diverse presence of fauna and flora and general ecosystem. In documents, it still stretches 350 km from the Rann of Kutch to Karachi and comprises around 6,000 sq km, however, the Indus delta has actually lost some 1000 sq km since the 1960s.
Though, the delta is an internationally protected site, as it was declared as Ramsar site- a convention on wetlands, signed in Iranian city of Ramsar in 1971 which is an intergovernmental treaty that provides the framework for national action and international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources – the Pakistani government has done little to protect this fast vanishing deltaic region.
The Federal Environment Ministry, the Pakistan Wetlands Programme, World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF)-Pakistan through Indus for All – a 50-year programme – and other international organisations claim that they are working for the preservation of the delta, but practically, no worthwhile step has been taken so far.
Some environmentalists believe that much of this shrinking is due to the construction of dams on the Indus River that have blocked the water. The construction of dams began in the 1960s and with 23 major barrages and the 45 major irrigation canals built by the British, the Pakistani government has since Partition added three major dams to the Indus – the Mangla, Tarbela and Warsak – as well as since 80s several smaller ones too, has posed serious threats for this region.
On the other side of the border, India’s construction of the Kishanganga and the Baglihar hydropower projects on the Jhelum and the Chenab rivers, respectively – both tributaries of the Indus – has further affected its downstream flow.
