ITIZENS were left disappointed when, at a recent public hearing on the environmental costs of a planned LNG import terminal at Hafeez Island in Chara Chan Waddio Creek in the Port Qasim area, state representatives failed to come up with satisfactory answers to some pertinent questions. On Wednesday, the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency had scheduled its second consultation on the project; the first had been declared void by Sepa, although one of the major points of contention that had come up even then was the chopping down of nearly 900 mangrove trees.

On Wednesday, as lawyers and activists specifically and repeatedly asked if a no-objection certificate was required from the forest department over the felling of this species of trees, whose entire cover in Sindh was declared protected in 2010, officials of both the department and Sepa were found wanting in their response. At the heart of the matter is the project`s environmental impact assessment conducted by Global Environmental Management Services.

Reportedly, those representing the state were able to present only vague answers to specific questions, even though the issue had come up before. In fact, one forest department representative was not able to explain what the government meant by `protected status`though he did admit that the mangrove was a protected species.

If this is the level of knowledge of the issue amongst those tasked with guarding the environment, the future can only be contemplated with despair. Pakistan is currently in a phase where infrastructure is generally being developed at an accelerated pace as a result of international and domestic investment. From metro lines to CPEC to the LNG terminal that was under discussion on Wednesday, across the country interventions are taking place which, if not monitored carefully and without bias, can have an adverse impact on the environment crucially, an impact that will be near impossible to reverse. It is high time the authorities stirred themselves into action.