Professor Dr. Zafar Iqbal Shams of the Institute of Environmental Studies, University of Karachi, said the timber mafia was minting millions of rupees from the country’s eucalyptus and conocarpus trees.

He expressed these views at a seminar organized on the occasion of World Environment Day. The event took place here at the Chemistry Auditorium on Friday. The Departments of Chemistry, Education and Botany of the University of Karachi jointly organized the seminar and then organized a planting activity and a poster competition for the students of the Department of Botany. Trees reduce the effect of urban heat and also reduce the formation of ozone in the troposphere, in addition to providing shade during hot summer days and also helping to reduce urban noise pollution, said the teacher. Moreover, he also added that the timber mafia deploys a systematic method to fell these trees and then transport their timber from one place to another which was exchanged for millions of rupees.

He regretted that no serious action had been taken against the timber mafia which engaged in relentless felling of trees. He said that like other plants, these two trees also absorb carbon dioxide and provide oxygen without having any adverse effects on the environment.

According to him, eucalyptus and conocarpus absorb more water than other trees because they grow faster than other trees. Professor Dr Zafar Iqbal has warned that if deforestation continues like this, we could face serious environmental problems.

“One of the main reasons for rapidly rising temperatures is relentless deforestation.

We should focus on planting different types of plants instead of the same type of plants because planting one type of trees could be dangerous as diseases can quickly affect them all. Another speaker, Dr Hina Baig from the National Institute of Oceanography, said that they were working for the elimination of marine pollution and that they should work together for the elimination of marine pollution and the protection of aquatic life.

“Every year, millions of aquatic animals die due to the dumping of waste. There is a need to raise public awareness in this regard. People need to understand how waste dumped into the sea is damaged,” he said. She added On this occasion, Dr Dilshad Ahmed from Sindh Environment Protection Agency said that every year various events related to global environment are organized by both public and private sectors but she regretted that the lessons learned from these have not been implemented.