THE ENVIRONMENTAL CASE OF SINDH

Abstract

This study documents the deteriorating riverine environment of Sindh. Previous studies have also highlighted this issue but the referencing and documentation is generally fragmentary. The environmental case of Sindh is contested by the federal government so for the purposes of this study we have decided to use predominantly official data, officially authorized field studies, or such authentic sources as the World Bank to prove the point. The data and studies prove beyond doubt that the environment of Sindh has suffered greatly due to the drastic decline in the flow of the river Indus due to upstream construction of storage for irrigation. Of course, Sindh has also benefitted from increased irrigation made possible by the storage and irrigation network but there is need to realize that Sindh is different from Punjab and that, for Sindh, human intervention in the water cycle has already been greatly overdone. Every new canal and irrigation related upstream storage facility now causes more damage than it provides benefit. Technical solutions to problems created by irrigation have invariably solved one problem only to give rise to another.