Working together to protect the Indus River Delta
Liam O’Callaghan
The Indus River Delta on Pakistan’s southern coast is in a critically endangered situation, which requires
urgent and wide-ranging action if it is to be saved. In this paper we will explore how this came about and
what can be done about it. Firstly, we will discover what the Delta actually is, how it came to be formed
and some of its unique features. Secondly, we will learn that the imminent danger that the Delta finds
itself in is due primarily to a lack of freshwater; this in turn leads us to explore what has been happening
to the mighty Indus River over the last century or so, that this incredible situation should come about.
Thirdly, we aim to discover the consequences of this dire situation on the people, ecology and future of
the Delta region. Fourthly, we will attempt to see what can be done about it. And finally, we will ask what
role religion and faith can play in our approach to environmental issues in general and the grave situation
of the Indus River Delta in particular.
The Indus River Delta
The coastline of Pakistan extends 1,050 kms. along the Arabian Sea. Karachi, Ormarah, Pasni and
Gwader name some of the important coastal areas; the coast itself can be divided into the coasts of Sindh
and Balochistan as they exhibit different and variable climatic and hydrological conditions. The Sindh
coastal region is located in the South-eastern part of the country between the Indian borders along Sir
Creek on the east to Hub River along the Balochistan coast on the west. This Sindh coastal region is
particularly different and unique primarily because of the Indus Delta, which covers 85% of the coastal
belt in Sindh. The Delta has formed where the Indus River enters the Arabian Sea; the mighty Indus River
so central to the life and economy of Pakistan, which rises in the Tibetan Plataea and flows through the
northwest of India and into the arid Thar desert in Pakistan before emptying into the Arabian Sea.
The Indus Delta, also known as the Indus Delta/Arabian Sea mangroves ecoregion, is the most prominent
ecological feature of the Sindh coast. It is approximately 1,600 km.2 in size covering 600,000 hectares
with a coastline of 250 km. and is ranked as the seventh largest Delta in the world. The Indus Delta shelf
is 150 kms wide and is comprised of 17 major creeks as well as numerous minor creeks and an extensive
area of mudflats.1 This is what is called the ‘active’ Delta region but the total Delta area (which was once
part of the Delta) is estimated to be five times that size. This change has come about because, in the
course of history, the Indus River has changed course a number of times. Arif Hasan explained how the
Delta came to be created, revealing that before the major upstream canal and irrigation projects were
build in the early 20th century and onwards, that “the Indus discharged over 5,660 cumecs of water on
average into the Arabian Sea, through over a dozen distributaries and creeks, whose names are part of the
political and navigational history of the Indian, Arabian and African coastline and of the folklore of lower
Sindh. The marine currents that developed due to this discharge affected navigation for over 500 km. off
the coast, and the muddy waters of the Indus decolourised the blue-grey Arabian Sea for over 60 km.
from the shore.
1
Naseer Memon, Climate change and environmental concerns in the Indus delta
https://www.wwfpak.org/ccap/.../cceConcernsinIndusDelta.pptx
1
This intense tussle between the sea and the river forced the waters of the Indus to spread into numerous
channels at its mouth, thus creating the Indus Delta region, which covered an area of over 3,000 square
km. Since a major part of the one million tonnes of silt carried daily by the Indus settles on this land, it
became the most fertile area in the river valley.2
The climatic conditions of the Delta are extreme, with ambient temperatures ranging from near-freezing
temperatures in the winter to a high of 50 degrees Celsius during the summer. The only rainfall the Delta
receives is during the monsoon season – July to September –which brings a mere 100-500 millimeters of
rain. The summer monsoon winds also contribute to high wave energy levels, and the Delta is subjected
to the highest wave action of any river Delta in the world.3 There are high salinity levels in the Delta
because of the high evaporation rates and the salts that are washed down by the river, which, up river,
flows through a highly saline area. In Sindh, it is estimated that the impact of soil salinity alone is
responsible for between 40-60% reductions in the production of the major crops grown in recent years
(ADB 2005).4 However, hardly any effort was made to introduce salt tolerant plants and crops which suit
the ecology. There is hardly any concept of coastal agriculture including aquatic food resources.
In this Indus river Delta ecoregion, mangroves are the main vegetation; in fact, most of the coast, apart
from mangroves, is devoid of any other kind of vegetation. Mangroves are salt tolerant trees, up to
medium height, and shrubs, that contain a complex salt filtration system and complex root system to cope
with salt water immersion and wave action. They have adapted to live in harsh saline coastal areas in the
tropics and subtropics. The Indus Delta mangrove ecosystem extends over an area of about 600,000 ha.
on the coast of Sindh, between Karachi and the south-western border of India. The Indus Delta mangroves
are perhaps unique in being the largest area of arid climate mangroves in the world. An estimated 135,000
people are depending on the resources of this ecosystem for their livelihood (ADB 2005). The Delta is
rated as the 13th largest mangrove forest in the world. Most of the wood from the mangrove forest is
harvested for fire wood. This ecoregion represents a mangrove habitat that is adapted to some of the most
extreme temperatures and salinity conditions in the Indo-Pacific region. As a transition from the marine to
freshwater and terrestrial systems, mangroves provide critical habitat for numerous species of fish and
crustaceans that are adapted to live among the tangled mass of pnuematophores, the roots that reach up
from muddy, anaerobic substrate to obtain the supple of oxygen for the mangrove trees.
The Delta falls within the districts of Thatta and Badin5 in Sindh province. Hyderabad, (pop. 1.2 million),
Pakistan’s fifth largest city, lies 190 km. north of the mouth of the Indus. There are some towns but there
is no other large city south of Hyderabad on the Delta. Karachi (pop. 20 million), Pakistan’s largest city,
lies west of the Delta on the coast of the Arabian Sea. The population of the Delta region is estimated at
1.2 million with roughly 15% of them dependent on the mangroves for a livelihood. The economy of the
Delta depends on agriculture and fishing, with an estimated 75% of the population of the active Delta
involved in fishing and in agriculture, of which the most common crops are rice, sugarcane and wheat.
2
Hasan, Arif “Death of the Indus Delta” in Down to Earth, June 30, 1992.
Mimura, Nobul, ed. “The State of Environment of the Pakistan Coast” in Asia-Pacific coasts and their
management: states of environment. Springer, 2008, p. 301-311.
3
4
ADB. 2005. Sindh Coastal and Inland Community Development Project, Interim Report, Vol
II, TA 4525-PAK, Asian Development Bank.
5
The Columbans have been working in Badin since 1983 among the Pakari Kholi tribal people, whose ancestral
home is in the Thar Desert which lies along much of the SE boundary of the Indus River.
2
Yet, the Indus River Delta is under severe threat, one of the main reasons being lack of freshwater, which
seems incredible as it is situated where the mighty Indus enters the Arabian Sea. To try to understand why
the Delta ecoregion is in such danger today it is necessary to take a close look at what has been happening
to the Indus River down the centuries.
The Indus River
The Indus River rises near Lake Mansarovar in The Tibetan Plateau in western Tibet, and flows through
the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir and down through Pakistan to the Arabian Sea. The total length of
the river is 3,180 kilometers, making it one of the longest rivers in Asia. The river has an estimated
drainage area of 1.65 million square kilometers and its estimated annual flow is 207 km3, making it the
twenty-first largest river in the world in terms of annual flow. The widely acclaimed book6 on the Indus
River by Alice Albinia, claims one reviewer “takes the reader on a voyage through 2000 years of
geography and more than five millennia of history redolent with contemporary importance”.7 Albinia says
of the River that “for millennia it has been worshiped as a god; for centuries used as a tool of imperial
expansion; today it is the cement of Pakistan’s fractious union”. Over 5,000 years ago the Indus valley
civilization flourished, with advancement way ahead of it time, and contained the largest human
habitations of the ancient world. This civilization extended across what is now Pakistan and northwest
India living close to the Indus and its tributaries, with the two main cities of the Indus valley civilization
being Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro, both of which, quite possibly because of the change in the River’s
path, ceased to exist. The River’s wonderful history is beautifully captured in an excellent and well
researched feature article on the Indus in The Dawn Newspaper (February 2014) which states in part: the
River “has nourished some of the world’s earliest cities; it has intimidated explorers, exasperated
engineers and enthralled poets and peasants alike. The Buddha, it is said, lived beside it in a previous
incarnation; the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak, found enlightenment whilst bathing in one of its
tributaries. The Atharvaveda, (the fourth Veda but has been a late addition to the Vedic scriptures of
Hinduism) one of the world’ oldest religious texts, refers to it as saaransh, ever flowing”.8
In October 2013, the Federal Minister for Water and Power, Muhammad Khwaja Asif declared “we are
on the verge of a life and death situation” warning that Pakistan could face a severe water shortage in the
next 10 to 15 years. This was given further credence by a report also in 2103 from the Asian Development
Bank (ABD) which pronounced Pakistan being on the verge of being declared water-scarce, with a
storage capacity of only 30 days as against the recommended 1,000 days for countries with similar
climates. These incredible statements, added to the reality of the Indus Delta in dying for lack of
freshwater, leads us to ask how could this come about. What is happening to the mighty Indus River? To
answer this, we need to look back at how its waters have been managed not only over the centuries but
today as well.
The Indus River is the most important source of water to the Punjab and Sindh plains – it is the backbone
to the agricultural industry and food production in Pakistan. The River is especially critical in light of the
6
Albinia, Alice. Empires of the Indus: The story of a river. England: John Murray (Hodder and Headline), 2008.
7
Posted by Pakistan Historian in Books on 12-10-2014, http://ancientpakistan.info/2014/empires-of-the-indus-thestory-of-a-river/
8
http://www.dawn.com/in-depth/the-river-story/ I found this to be an excellent piece of research and use it with
great appreciation in the writing of this section of the paper.
3
meager rainfall, outside of the monsoon season, in the lower Indus valley. In order to capture this scares
resource, irrigation canals have been used for thousands of years, with archaeological evidence showing
their use in the Indus valley civilization; irrigation canals were also built by engineers in the Khusan and
Mughal empires. But, it was in the period of British colonization that this work really expanded, when in
the later nineteenth century and early twentieth century the British supervised the construction of one of
the most complex irrigation systems in the world. Here, we will briefly look at what that looked like and
secondly, look at how the state of Pakistan managed and manages its water resource post independence in
1947.
The British colonisation of the river can be traced back to 1836 when four employees of the East India
Company were sent to Sindh to explore the navigability of the Indus. Like the colonisation project in
general, the colonisation of the Indus River was purely an exercise of exploitation and seen only from the
viewpoint of profit. Initially the results were not positive as the River was not proving to be a success n
terms of transport, as there were many shipwrecks, damage to freight and passenger deaths. However,
with the beginning of their irrigation projects things begins to change; as Albinia puts it “in the end, it
was the irrigation that rescued Britain’s conquest of the Indus from financial disaster”. After the East
India Company conquered the Punjab in 1849, they began constructing perennial canals which flowed
throughout the year upstream on the Indus river system. This work took on greater urgency in the light of
the famine in northern India in 1878. According to Albinia “By 1901, four of the five rivers of the Punjab
had been ‘canalised’ or damned…. Grain poured out of the Punjab, feeding hungry mouths in India, and
transmitting new taxes to London. The Punjab became a ‘model province’ in British India: productive and
peaceful”. Consequently, the colonisers turned their eyes to Sindh. The Governor of Bombay laid the
foundation stone for the Sukkur Barrage bridge in 1923, at the time the world’s largest irrigation project.
Colonial interests were to the fore in the building of the barrage: one, being the steady supply of cotton to
Lancastershires’ mills; another, through ‘turning a desert into a garden’ would attain the appeasement of
the rural population who were becoming disillusioned with the colonial powers.
The partition of the sub continent in August 1947 was a terribly traumatic event with over one million
people killed and 12 million displaced, creating a tension, bordering on hatred between Pakistan and India
which has lasted to this day. Very soon, the issue of water became a major source of tension, and remains
so today. In 1948, India made it clear that they would control the three tributaries of the Indus on its side
– the Ravi, Sutlej and Beas. Pakistan was beginning to become desperate and in June 1949 appealed to the
International Court of Justice, but India refused to participate. Meanwhile, an American technocrat, David
Lilienthal, who was assigned to the area came up with a proposal to alleviate Pakistan’s fears: namely, the
building of dams all along the river. However, Lilienthal had another interest as he was a partner in an
international financial advisory and asset management firm. In August 1951, Eugene R. Black, the
president of the newly formed World Bank, wrote to the Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan, enclosing
a copy of Lilienthal’s proposal and offering the Bank’s ‘good offices’ for the execution of the scheme.
And so, the Indus Water Treaty was born. For a fixed sum of 62 million sterling paid to Pakistan, India
assumed control of the Ravi, Sutlej and the Beas. With the assistance of the World Bank, Pakistan
embarked on a series of ambitions replacement works: two large dams, five barrages, one gated siphon
and eight inter-river link canals. This project was hugely ambitious as prior to this, from 1932-1963, only
four major barrages had been built on the Indus: at Sukkur, Kotri, Taunsa and Guddu.
In 1961, work began on the first major project after the Treaty was signed, the Mangla Dam on the
Jhelum river in the Mirpur district of Pakistani Kashmir. It is the ninth largest dam in the world and was
completed in 1967 at a cost of $1.5 billion, with the funding being provided by the World Bank and the
Asian Development Bank. Over 280 villages were submerged and 110,000 people were displaced. Many
of the displaced were given work visas for Britain by the Government of Pakistan, and as a result the
majority of Pakistanis (70%) in the UK belong to the British Mirpuri community. Then two major dams
4
were constructed on the Indus river; in 1967 work began on the Chashma Bararage in Mianwali district
and was completed in 1971 and is used for irrigation, flood control and power generation. In 1968, work
began on the second major project, the Tarbela Dam project, named after a town about 50 kms northwest
of Islamabad. It is the largest earth filled dam in the world, and its 250 km2 lake has inundated 82,000
acres of arable land which was home to 196,000 people who lived in 120 villages. Many of them were not
properly compensated as per the agreement. Those major projects and an extensive network linking
tributaries with the Indus, creating an amazing irrigation system, is the basis for Pakistan’s large
production of crops such as cotton, sugarcane, wheat and rice. Much of Pakistan’s electricity is generated
by these dams as well.
Another major project proposed, the Kalabagh Dam, has not been started and still remains a major source
of contention, as the smaller provinces, especially Sindh fear they will lose out again and distrust the
power of the Pubjab province. Because of this tension between the provinces no major engineering
project has been undertaken from the 1970s-1990s. In 1991, after some nine attempts over more than a
century, an agreement was reached between the upper and lower regions of the Indus within Pakistan.
But, Pakistan and India are not the only claimants on the Indus and its tributaries, China and Afghanistan
have access to its water too. In the early 2000s, China constructed a dam in Tibet on a tributary of the
Indus. The cumulative effect of these projects is the beginning of the end for the Indus River Delta: over
74 per cent of the waters of the Indus system are now siphoned off before the Indus reaches Kotri, and the
Delta region has shrunk from 1,600 km2 to 250 km2.
The Indus River Delta is dying
Arif Hasan starkly and bluntly states that “starved of fresh water and no longer able to withstand the
encroaching Arabian Sea, the Indus Delta is dying a slow death…. the destruction of the Indus Delta is a
direct consequence of the dams and barrages that have been built higher up on the river. These have
diverted the river's water into areas that were earlier rain fed, drastically reducing the quantity of water
flowing into the Deltaic channels leading to and, thereby, increasing salinity”.9 The construction of the
dams mentioned above for irrigating and the generation of power have effectively choked off the supply
of fresh water to the Indus River Delta and the result is that its 17 major creeks are drying out and salty
water from the sea is steadily entering the basin. “Water supply for both human, animal and crop
consumption is the critical issue. Lack of water impacts on the productive use of human time (women can
spend all day fetching and carrying water), on health (dirty water means that a majority of the population,
especially children, suffers from water-borne diseases), the distribution of the population (often along
irrigation canals and drainage ditches) and the choice and productivity of crop.”10 The 1991 Indus Water
Accord (IWA), the regulatory agreement of distribution of water among the provinces, stipulates that 10
Million Acre Feet (MAF) of water is meant to be released below the Kotri barrage; this never happens
except during the monsoon season, apart from which almost no fresh water is released into the Delta. This
results in salt water intrusion and it is estimated that the sea water intrusion has taken place up to 67 km
into the Delta, resulting in damage to the Deltaic ecosystem and adversely affecting the ground aquifers.11
9
Hasan
Sidra Majeed, Sumbia Bint Zaman, Irfan Ali and Dr. Shahid Ahmad, Situational Analysis of Sindh Coast – Issues
and Options. From the Natural Resources Division, Pakistan Agricultural Research Division, Islamabad, Pakistan.
Research Briefings, Volume (2) No. (11), 2010. p. 7
10
Indus delta – A Vanishing Ecosystem (WWF), 2007.
http://foreverindus.org/pdf/awarness_material/brochures/awm_indusdelta_fs_vanishing.pdf
11
5
According to research in 2010, the population of the Delta is facing a huge crisis: “the findings about
water, roads, power, health and education add up to a lack of access to essential services needed to
conduct life beyond survival. In many cases even ‘subsistence’ may be too optimistic a word to use about
persons dwelling there. What is being seen over much of the communities of Sindh coast is the collapse
of community, a situation that requires mitigation before any serious development strategy can be
developed.”12 Rina Saeed Khan, in her case study, claims that 80% of the approximately five million
people who once lived along the banks of the river have migrated, mainly to Karachi.13 The 1998 census
gives figures of 1.113 million for Thatta district and 1.136 million for Badin district. The general health
of the population is very poor, with one of the prime reasons being lack of clean drinking water. The
average literacy rate for people in the area is 20%. According to an ADB report in 2005, the majority of
people living in the coastal belt of Karachi, Thatta and Badin (79%) live below the poverty line.
Presently, about 65% of households along the coast depend on fishing for their livelihood, but there are
increasing problems emerging putting this industry at risk. The change from a freshwater to a marine
ecology results in a change in catch composition and value of the catch. There is over-fishing and poor
management of fish resources, the poor implementation of laws controlling illegal practices is very
damaging. Because of the changing ecology and also pollution, there is a severe reduction in nursery
habitats for key commercial coastal and marine fish species.
Farming is the source of income for about 20% of households in the region but the problems outlined
already are a major obstacle to the agriculture industry. Most of the agricultural area of the coastal zone
falls within the Indus Delta agro-ecological zone, which includes the Indus Delta and districts of Thatta
and Badin. It is more saline than any other area in Sindh.14 Salinity and water logging are severe problems
in this area and productivity is low, the main crops are rice, sugarcane, wheat and vegetables. Lack of
marketing and storage facilities, credit, quality inputs such as seeds and fertilizers, machinery and tractors
are major factors holding back the agricultural industry in the area. Overall, about 64% of the rural
households in Sindh are landless; in the coastal areas of Thatta and Badin the landless problem is worse
as, for example, in Badin district over 80% of the land is owned by only nine per cent of households.
Another casualty of the lack of freshwater are the mangrove forests. According to data from the Coastal
Environmental Management Plan for Pakistan, between 1966-2003 the dwindling river flow has led to the
loss of over 86% of mangrove cover in the Delta region. The area is, despite this major reduction, still
considered the largest area of arid climate mangroves in the world. And, according to the ADB in 2005,
130,000 people depend on this ecosystem for their livelihoods. Reasons for the reduction in mangroves
include over-harvesting of mangroves for fire wood, over grazing by camels, the change in the
freshwater/marine ecology, and pollution.
This mangroves ecosystem provides “a rich habitat for wildlife of terrestrial and marine origin. The
mammals of the mangrove forest in the Indus Delta include tropical dolphins, porpoises and occasional
12
Situational Analysis of Sindh Coast - Issues and Options, p. 12.
13
Death of the River Indus Delta. This case study has been authored by Ms. Rina Saeed Khan. During its
compilation expert opinion on the subject was sought from Mr. Tahir Qureshi, Director Coastal Ecosystems,
International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN).
14
Memon, K. S. 2002. Status Paper on Agriculture in Sindh. The World Conservation Union,
Sindh Programme, IUCN, Pakistan.
6
visitors such as toothed whales. Little information is available on the reptiles, however, three species of
lizards, one species of poisonous snake and two species of marine snakes have been reported. In addition,
about 200 species of fish have been reported from the Delta area”.15 A number of migratory birds,
particularly water fowl, are attracted to the Indus Delta area; the above mentioned 2010 research finding
reveal that 56 species of migratory birds belonging to six orders and 14 families are found in the Sindh
coastal waters. The coast of Pakistan has many seaweed resources especially in the post monsoon period.
However, because of the deterioration in this ecoregion, much of this biodiversity is at risk. The Indus
River dolphin has been in serious decline since the 1930’s, when the construction of the first dams took
place; because of the dams they are often trapped in parts of the river, unable to swim upstream or
downstream and just left to die. According to estimates from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), only
1,100 remain today.16 Biodiversity loss is also caused by marine pollution in this coastal region. “It is
estimated that about 37,000 tons of industrial waste is being dumped in the coastal environment of
Karachi and 20,000 tons of oil finds its way to beaches, harbours, and the fishing grounds of Karachi
annually”.17
What can be done to protect the Delta?
How can this situation be turned around? It is quite clear from the above that in order to prevent the entire
Indus Delta region from dying a slow death, freshwater levels have got to be increased and kept constant.
This clearly means re-negotiating the 1991 Indus Water Accord (IWA) agreement so that the critical
minimum amount of water to maintain Deltaic ecosystems is released down stream of Kotri Barrage.
Only if this happens can other solutions be worked on. The 2010 Sindh Situational Research puts forward
a number of proposals for various industries: The fishing industry: It proposes development of the
integrated pond systems to increase fish stocks; the development of shrimp hatcheries, especially the
white Indian shrimp which is the type most suitable to the environment of the Delta with its high salinity
and high temperatures; development of mud crab culture; upgrading of existing hatcheries at Badin and
Thatta so they can sustain more varieties of fish. The agricultural industry: New methods of farming need
to be developed which are suitable for the saline coastal area, saline farming can be profitable and a wide
variety of plants and crops are possible to be used. It is also crucial that technology be developed for
coastal farming. Mangrove forests and plantations: Conservation of mangrove forests is crucial, as well
as re-planting programmes in specially created nurseries. The mangrove forests are vital as a habitat for
many different varieties of fish and marine life and add greatly to the biodiversity of the area. The
mangroves are a sustainable means of wood and fodder, as the branches will grow back quickly after
being cut. Eco-tourism: Development of tourism is also a possibility; areas to explore could be boating on
the lake, mangrove forest trails, promotion of skills and crafts.18
Pakistan is particularly vulnerable to climate change as it has a warm climate and is located in a
geographical region where the temperature increases are expected to be higher than the global average.
Pakistan is another example of a developing country which is very vulnerable to the consequences of
climate change but has done very little to contribute to the problem. Temperature records show that there
is clear indication of warming in the country: in fact, 2015 was the warmest yet, with a terrible heatwave
15
Situational Analysis of Sindh Coast - Issues and Options, p. 5.
16
Marie Thomas, ‘The slow and dangerous death of Pakistan’s Indus river delta’, in Quartz India, July 9, 2015. p. 2.
17
Indus delta - A vanishing ecosystem, 4.
18
Situational Analysis of Sindh Coast - Issues and Options, 20-23
7
in June claiming almost 1,500 lives in Karachi. Previously, there was a record breaking heat wave in
2010: 53.5 °C the hottest temperature ever recorded in Asia and the fourth highest temperature ever
recorded in the world, was on May 26 at Mohenjo-Daro, Sindh. Qamar-uz-Zaman, vice-president for the
Asia region at the World Meteorological Department, said “that extreme summer temperatures, which
have been common during the last few years in Pakistan, can be largely attributed to climatic warming”.19
Since 2010, the economic loss due to weather extremes has been estimated at $6 billion by the UN
Development Program. The looming threats from climate change include increased monsoon variability,
recession of glaciers in the Himalayas, reduction of agricultural productivity and power generation
because of heat and water stress, adverse effects on coastal agriculture, fishing and mangroves, increased
risk of droughts and floods. In preparation for UN Climate conference, COP21, in Paris Nov 30-Dec 1,
2015, the Ministry for Climate Change have prepared a draft that promises an “unconditional” emissions
reduction of 5% by 2030, compared to 2012 levels. The draft says this figure can go up to 18% if there is
sufficient support from rich nations, especially in the areas of finance and technology transfer.20
The role of Religion in seeking solutions
What role can religion play as we attempt to face the enormous environmental problems of today? What
are the spiritual resources of the religions that can be tapped in this task? We will first look at what Islam
offers and then explore how an interfaith approach can be fruitful as we attempt to respond together to the
challenges we all face.
Thomas Michel, in his succinct article,21 explores a Qur’anic approach to ecology and says that the
fundamental principle that underlies the approach of the Qur’an to the natural world is the serious nature
of the divine project….God’s way of acting in nature is purposeful, part of a great, eternal design”.22 He
says it is clear from the Qur’an that humankind will one day have to answer for its sins against the natural
world; in a powerful passage from the Qur’an in relation to the Day of Judgment, the natural universe
accuses humankind of its crimes, “When the earth shall quake violently, and the earth shall bring forth its
burdens, and man shall say: ‘What is happening to it?’ on that day it shall tell its stories”.23 In chapter 16
(Surat al-Nahl, the chapter of the Bee), humankind is taught that nature is a gift that the loving Creator
has given to us for our survival, benefit, and also our pleasure. The approach of the Qur’an to nature is
always theological, that God’s way of acting is part of a great, eternal design; “according to the Qur’an,
nature indicates a wise, good, powerful, stable God, and these indications are evident to anyone who
seeks to understand them”.24 The Qur’an teaches that nature is one of the great miracles of God. There are
numerous references in the Qur’an to the oceans and the seas and they can be categorized in three main
headings: - oceans in the service of humankind, darkness in ocean waters and barriers in mixing of
neighbouring sea waters and estuaries.
19
http://www.pakissan.com/english/issues/pakistan.wilts.under.record.heat.wave.shtml
20
http://www.thethirdpole.net/2015/09/29/pakistan-to-pledge-5-emission-reduction/
Thomas F. Michel, ‘Christian Reflections on a Qur’anic Approach to Ecology’ in A Christian view of Islam –
Essays on Dialogue, New York: Orbis Books, Maryknoll, 2010
21
22
Ibid., 168.
23
The Message of the Qur’an, 99: 1-4.
24
Michel, 172.
8
One example which could help provide inspiration for the majority Muslim community in the Indus
Delta in their struggle to save the ecoregion is the Misali Ethics Pilot Project in Zanzibar, Tanzania which
began in 1999. This project was a partnership between a secular NGO (CARE International, Tanzania)
and an Islamic foundation (the Islamic Foundation for Ecology and Environmental Sciences (IFEES))
from Birmingham, England. Misali Island is a tiny island, west of Pemba Island in the Zanzibar
archipelago of the Western Indian Ocean, and is blessed with beautiful coral reefs, sea grass beds,
mangroves, and the reef is said to support 300 species of fish and 42 genera of coral. However, before the
project began destruction of the environment and depletion of fish stocks due to illegal fishing techniques,
over exploitation of marine resources and pollution had become a major concern. Co-authors, Fazlun
Khalid and Ali Thani, explain how the project emerged, “The idea that Islamic ethics could be used to
promote conservation at Misali arose from the cultural and social context of Pemba, where community
life revolves around Islam. This is probably the very first occasion when a conservation project based on
Islamic ethics has been successfully employed in a marine conservation environment and its uniqueness
lies in the fact that it is driven from the bottom up by the community itself”.25 There is no reason why the
successful outcome of this project cannot be repeated in the Indus Delta ecoregion.
The build-up to the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP21, has seen an
unprecedented involvement of the major religions in the debate. They bring an enormous combined
spiritual energy to the campaign urging world leaders who gathered in Paris from November 30December 11 to sign a legally binding and universal agreement on climate, committing to reduced global
greenhouse emissions. In June, Pope Francis issued an Encyclical letter on the environment, Laudato Si’,
in which he says “I would like to enter into a dialogue with all people about our common home”.26 The
encyclical was warmly welcomed in the fields of science, economics, NGOs, environmentalism and by
people of other faiths; the timing indicates that one of its intentions is to influence COP21. This was
followed in August by an Islamic Declaration on Climate Change27 which also is a landmark statement
and declares, “we welcome the significant contributions untaken by other faiths…. if we each offer the
best of our traditions, we may yet see a way through our difficulties”. A Buddhist declaration on climate
change then followed as did a Jewish statement and a statement from the Parliament of World’s Religions
meeting in Salt Lake City in September. Numerous other interfaith statements on climate change have
emerged, including one in Pakistan in conjunction with an interfaith march being planned for November
21. This unprecedented surge of interfaith cooperation has enormous potential for positive change and
real action, not just for COP21 but also for the Indus Delta ecoregion which is under such severe threat.
25
Khalid, Fazlun & Thani, Ali Teachers Guide Book for Islamic Environmental Education: Promoting
Conservation in Misali Island, Zanzibar. Birmingham, England: The Islamic Foundation for Ecology and
Environmental Science, 2008, p. 3.
26
Pope Francis, Laudato Si’- On Care for Our Common Home, 2015. No. 3.
http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudatosi.html
27
Islamic Declaration on Global Climate Change, Istanbul, Turkey, 2015.
http://islamicclimatedeclaration.org/islamic-declaration-on-global-climate-change/
9
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11