KU KIBGE awareness session urges adoption of research-based policies in Pakistan

An awareness session on agriculture biosafety and climate change: a step towards safe environment, organized by Dr. A. Q. Khan Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering (KIBGE) of the University of Karachi urged the concerned authorities to adopt research-based policies in the country.

The speakers observed that our existing policies hardly ensure ground reality is checked while planning or executing anything in the country. The event was held at the KU KIBGE Jinnah Auditorium on Tuesday.

The KU Vice Chancellor Professor Dr Khalid Mahmood Iraqi observed that the population growth rate is a big challenge for the country. The annual rate of Pakistan’s population is 3.5 percent which is dangerous and development cannot be made with this growth rate.

He mentioned that every country has adopted a model to control its own population, and we have to do the same so that we can focus on other major issues. We need to provide awareness to the masses so that we can prevent massive population growth. He shared that the lack of education is the main reason for population growth in Pakistan.

The KU VC Professor Dr Khalid Iraqi said that no country has unlimited resources, developments are made within the available resources. We must utilize our resources and trust in our ability and skills to progress in the right direction.

He expressed that policies should include ground realities and data-driven statistics as well as research-based results to get better results. The concerned departments should make sure that their policies should have a positive and direct effect on the masses.

He shared that dissemination of the policies on the grassroots level would help in getting quick feedback and a chance for improvement. “Our policies are not based on research, as a nation we need to accept the facts regardless of how hard they are.”

The KU VC Professor Dr Khalid Iraqi said that European countries have set the example of how we can gain benefits if we give up fights and start cooperating with our neighboring nations and how a peaceful region helps in expanding business.

He noted that climate change is a major issue and added that every year we are facing flooding in the country. Some decades ago, we used to ignore and deny the facts like global warming and climate change but now we are facing harsh weather and unusual weather conditions.

Another speaker, the President of the Asian Federation of Biotechnology Professor Dr Shahid Mansoor said that the agriculture sector plays a major role in our exports, and informed the audience that this year was our best year for exports and we achieved 3.5 percent overall growth and agriculture sector was at the top. We have witnessed a record increase in rice exports and have also exported some new items.

According to him, malnutrition is one of the major problems in Pakistan, with 50 percent of the population suffering from nutritional deficiencies. He termed that Pakistan’s population growth rate is the highest in South Asia. He highlighted that malnutrition is a global issue and the deaths reported due to hunger are more numerous than the death that occurs due to AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis around the world.

He shared that Pakistan and Karachi are being affected the most by climate change and mentioned that the country and the city have witnessed many spells of severe heat waves in the recent past.

A speaker, President of Pakistan Biological Safety Association Professor Dr Saeed Khan during his presentation, said that the rapidly changing climate has affected the whole world, especially the Asian countries. He believes that a rapid increase in different diseases especially some new kinds of illness and infections has been reported due to climate change.

He said that awareness campaigns can help in reducing the widespread of diseases and hoped that the officials would include the health sector in their priorities as it is very important for mankind.

On this occasion, the Director General of Sindh Institute of Animal Health Dr Nazeer Hussain Kalhoro informed the participants how viruses are transmitted from animals to humans, what will be the effects on the human body, and what kind of preventive measures would be required to address this problem.

He said that unfortunately, Pakistan is the only region in the world where the weakest laws related to food are still in practice and added that the public as well as politicians and policy makers should think about it and necessary changes should be made to improve the laws.