Clean Green Approaches Required for Achieving Sustainable Development Goals

Islamabad; A lot of the impact of human population on governance, well-being and environmental security depends not only on how big the populations are but how smartly they are distributed. Rapid urbanization and relocation put undue stress on existing systems having serious effects on overall socio-economic situation and quality of lives of peoples across the globe.

UN’s 7^th World Cities Day 2020 was marked by COMSATS through a webinar on “Challenges of Rapid Urbanization in the Global South” co-organized by COMSATS Centre for Climate & Sustainability (CCCS) and COMSATS’ Centre of Excellence, Tanzania Industrial Research and Development Organization (TIRDO).

In his remarks representing COMSATS, Ambassador Shahid Kamal, Head of CCCS, considered rapid urbanization a major challenge in achieving Sustainable Development Goals, with serious consequences for food, water and energy security.

The panelists of the webinar included representatives from Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology (TIB), China; University of Tehran, Iran; Al-Farabi Kazakh National University KazNU, Kazakhstan; University of Peshawar, Pakistan; International Centre for Research and Consultancy (IRCC), Sudan; Tanzania Industrial Research and Development Organization (TIRDO), Tanzania; and Mbara University of Science and Technology (MUST), Uganda.

The talks and discussions of the event touched upon a number of important issues related to urbanization, including land-use planning; controlling emissions caused by transport and industrial sector; reduction in arable land; and waste management. Adopting waste-to-energy approach was deemed crucial as a sustainable option to address waste and energy related problems.

The event emphasized on having strong legislation and policy measures for development of new cities safeguarding nations’ interests regarding natural resources and environment. Sustainable urbanization was deemed the best mitigative approach to climate change as urban air pollution is severe threat to human health, along with poor transportation and industries.

Closing the event, the moderator of the event, Dr. Lugano Wilson from TIRDO, stressed the need to adopt clean and green approaches for achieving Sustainable Development Goals.