Explore the urgent crisis facing Karachi's coastline in "City by the Sea"! This documentary exposes how grand mega-projects like "Diamond Bar Island City" and "Sugar Land City" are being planned on over 68,000 acres, threatening the environment and neglecting the city's original inhabitants.
Witness the devastating impact of untreated industrial and domestic sewage from 18 million Karachiites polluting the sea, harming fishing communities. Discover how vital mangrove forests, crucial barriers against storms and nurseries for marine life, are being decimated by the timber mafia. This film delves into sustainable alternatives, advocating for #UrbanPlanning principles that prioritize human development over haphazard concrete expansion.
#Karachi #Coastline #EnvironmentalCrisis #Pakistan #UrbanDevelopment #Mangroves #SewagePollution #FishingCommunities #DiamondBarIslandCity #SugarLandCity #CoastalMegaProjects #SustainableDevelopment #UrbanPlanning #KarachiEnvironment #ClimateChange #SaveKarachi #Documentary #UntreatedWaste #LandMafia #TimberMafia #HumanImpact #Ecosystem #SocialJustice #WaterPollution #CoastalErosion #PakistanDevelopment #CityPlanning #EcoWatch
Source: https://youtu.be/YMydewA3i5A
Witness the devastating impact of untreated industrial and domestic sewage from 18 million Karachiites polluting the sea, harming fishing communities. Discover how vital mangrove forests, crucial barriers against storms and nurseries for marine life, are being decimated by the timber mafia. This film delves into sustainable alternatives, advocating for #UrbanPlanning principles that prioritize human development over haphazard concrete expansion.
#Karachi #Coastline #EnvironmentalCrisis #Pakistan #UrbanDevelopment #Mangroves #SewagePollution #FishingCommunities #DiamondBarIslandCity #SugarLandCity #CoastalMegaProjects #SustainableDevelopment #UrbanPlanning #KarachiEnvironment #ClimateChange #SaveKarachi #Documentary #UntreatedWaste #LandMafia #TimberMafia #HumanImpact #Ecosystem #SocialJustice #WaterPollution #CoastalErosion #PakistanDevelopment #CityPlanning #EcoWatch
Source: https://youtu.be/YMydewA3i5A
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NewsTranscript
00:00Pakistan's coastline stretches from Almara to Karachi.
00:14In its natural unspoiled splendor, it is one of the most beautiful and biodiverse in the world.
00:20The vistas of natural beauty and wealth of life both on and off these shores have made it a haven for tourists, conservationists and fishermen.
00:40God has given us a great gift from all the nations of the world.
00:49In Karachi, if you are fighting, the sea is our relationship with the sea.
00:57If you wear a mask, look at what God has made the sea.
01:02It is a different world. It is paradise under water.
01:05Everybody doesn't give the sea the same respect though.
01:09The sea is a great gift.
01:11The sea is in free.
01:13The sea is a great gift to all the nations of the world.
01:16As a river, I'm on the river for the sea.
01:18It is a great gift.
01:20It is a great gift.
01:22I'm on the river for you all.
01:23In here it is a great gift.
01:25It is a great gift for you all.
01:27The sea is a great gift.
01:29The sea is so special.
01:32In the sea is alive.
01:34I hope you will be my favorite gift.
01:36Welcome to Karachi.
01:54The hustle and bustle of this metropolis makes it easy to forget its humble origins.
01:59In the 18th century, Karachi was a fortified trading post for merchants. Over subsequent
02:07generations, many different cultures, religions and ethnicities passed through, mingled and
02:13overlapped with each leaving a little bit of themselves behind. Eventually, the settlement
02:19grew to encircle some of the fishing villages that dotted the coastline. Today, Karachi is a major
02:25seaport and industrial powerhouse where the cultural diversity of its original inhabitants
02:31co-exists, often uncomfortably, with the new urban sprawl.
02:39As Karachi's journey from trading settlement to megacity illustrates, development is inevitable,
02:45but it must be sustainable. The distribution and utilization of land and access to water
02:51must focus on the future as well as the present, particularly in a third world economy like
02:57Pakistan's. Here, corruption, myopic planning and lax regulatory frameworks ensure citizens
03:04are vulnerable to the profiteers that thrive in such an environment.
03:08Recent changes along Karachi's seashore illustrate exactly how the four interest groups most impacted
03:20by unregulated development along a coastline, that is, the flora and fauna, the fishing communities,
03:26the general public and land-owning agencies can be adversely affected by it.
03:31Karachi's 75-kilometer-long coastline stretches from Cape Mons to Port Qasim.
03:38Just outside the city lie the scenic Paradise Point and the popular French Beach, Augs Bay and
03:46Sands Bay. Behind these beaches are the mangroves of the eastern and western backwaters.
03:52The coastline running parallel to the city itself features the Karachi Port, Menorah Island
03:58and the DHA Beachfront. Offshore, at the very edge of the Indus Delta, lie the Bundal and
04:05Buddo Islands. Close by are the creeks which lead to Port Qasim.
04:10These backwaters, these shores, have been home to abundant flora and fauna for generations
04:16as part of an ecosystem built upon the foundation of mangrove swamps.
04:21Avicenna marina, the common mangrove, or timur as it's locally known, acts as a nursery and
04:28feeding ground for fish, crustaceans and migratory birds. Mangroves sustain coastal communities
04:35and also form a protective barrier against storms or cyclones.
04:39Mangroves are also planted in the trees as well as we work in the trees.
04:44The pressure of the mangroves is increased, there is no pressure, there is no pressure,
04:49there is no pressure from the land, but there is no pressure from it.
04:52We have given this example that mangroves are the dangerous soldiers in our forests and
04:57we protect them.
04:59But the once abundant wetlands of Karachi have shrunk to a fraction of their former size.
05:06We have done urbanization and industrialization in Karachi.
05:11We have done urbanization and industrialization in Karachi.
05:16There are millions of acres of mangroves.
05:19We have cut them.
05:20They are making birds, iron ore, LPG,
05:27and the FOTCO.
05:29All these are contributing to mangroves' deforestation.
05:35They have also been affected by settlements along the Liyari and Malir rivers.
05:41Their resultant pollution poisons not just the roots of the trees but also the many life forms they nurture.
05:47Down the coast from the mangroves, other valuable species indigenous to the region are also trapped in a battle for survival.
05:56Hawks Bay and Sandspit are one of the 11 beaches in the world where sea turtles come to nest every year.
06:02The turtles are a threatened species but their nesting area is under a far greater threat.
06:09Bigger, better and always illegal huts are encroaching upon their nesting sites.
06:15Civic agencies themselves are party to this encroachment.
06:19Till the night, the turtles come to nest.
06:27If you will wake this land, you will make birds with a light.
06:34Inber base to the birds, the turtles not the birds.
06:36The world's growing age and where the turtles are putting in the map is also stored.
06:39If the plants are being filled with the plants,
06:42the plants are being filled with the plants.
06:46If there is a way of developing,
06:50one day it will come,
06:52the plants are looking at the soil,
06:55and the plants will come,
06:57and the plants will come.
07:02Despite rising awareness about the importance of environmental conservation,
07:07the invaluable ecology of the natural shoreline
07:10is still vulnerable to poachers
07:12and the appropriation of public spaces
07:14for private development projects.
07:16A few years ago, when I started here,
07:19there were no construction here.
07:21The herds were too low.
07:23The warehouses were being built on the main road.
07:27But now, the warehouses are being built.
07:30The herds increased,
07:32and the residential project is also under construction.
07:35If the herds are being built here,
07:38and the apartments are being built here,
07:40then the habitat of this area will come,
07:43and in the future,
07:44we will not get any wildlife here.
07:48Fishing communities along the coastline
07:50suffer the consequences as much as the flora and fauna
07:54that have sustained their way of life for generations.
07:57The people of the people of the people of the people of the terraria
08:01are in the waters of the sea and coastal areas
08:03are with the animals of their population
08:05.
08:06They are not because of water pollution,
08:08nor because of the dogs of the people of their population",
08:11The human rights are marginalized and marginalized people from the government.
08:25The general public is another interest group that is deprived of its intrinsic rights to
08:30recreation in any attempt to gentrify the seafront.
08:41As the lay of the land has changed, Karachi's cultural identity has also been eroded.
09:01The land-owning agencies that have traditionally held the deeds for most of the seafront have
09:06been sidelined over the years.
09:08This has happened because successive governments have conveniently ignored them in the decision-making
09:14process.
09:15These agencies and other interest groups need to aggressively lobby the representatives
09:20and institutions that are supposed to protect their rights when those rights are threatened.
09:25They need to challenge any project that violates the fundamental principle of the doctrine of
09:30trust.
09:31For example, land reclamation.
09:34Reclamation itself is an interesting choice of word, meaning as it does the taking back
09:39of something by its rightful owner.
09:41Here is an example of how exactly it works.
09:46Land reclaimed by DHA in phase 8 has shrunk the mouth of the Malir River to half its former size.
09:53The land reclamation.
09:58The water is a natural drainage system from the U.S.
10:00The water is a natural drainage system.
10:01The water is all blocked from the U.S.
10:03because in the water is created the elite colonies.
10:06In that sense, the water comes from the U.S.
10:08There are two main nalas in Karachi and China Creek in the backwater.
10:14They are blocked by the mangroves, and they have created a colony of K-P-T.
10:34colony. So, this is flooding in these areas. So, these changes have not only affected
10:44the coast, but also affected the city. And the fishing communities, the fish, their
10:52business, also affected the very bad.
10:56There was a pattern of wetlands. You have reclaimed the wetlands. There are wild birds
11:02in the city limits. Can you imagine that in Karachi's defense area, you have a bird-watching area
11:10called Wild Birds. You are watching, they are poor, they are not happy in the whole world.
11:15Now, there is nothing for us. We are destroying it from our hands. What is it? We are making
11:21you very good. What are you making? You are making them access to the sea from Karachi.
11:28I think reclamation should not be allowed at any cost. Because reclamation is creating
11:34a lot of problems, not only with the environment, but also with the physical problems.
11:39And the flow of tides, the movement of tides, and all the oceanographic dimensions are
11:46disturbed. Because these reclamations have done a lot more than DHA, the government of sin
11:51had taken up at some time. That this is not a further reclamation of land. It is not legal
11:57because it is not allotted land. So, reclamation has a very strict view of the government of sin.
12:03That further reclamation can be allowed. Where the environment is related to the
12:07environment, it is important that our environmental protection agency is
12:12that they have noticed under the Pakistan Environmental Protection Act, that you have
12:16natural habitat that you are disturbing and violating the provisions of law.
12:22Thanks to the constant greed for land, the sea is being pushed back, not just along the shore,
12:28but also in backwaters like boat basin, along the road named after Mai Kolachi.
12:34It is our boat basin in Karachi. The boat basin is called backwaters in English.
12:42That when the land and the land join, the land and the land are neutral.
12:49It gives time to the land. If the water comes from rain, it becomes a flood basin.
12:54The flood water stops so that the land will join the land.
12:58Or when the land comes from the shore, the water takes place so that the land doesn't affect the land.
13:03And these are the backwaters, which are the mangroves,
13:07like mangroves,
13:08which is located in the forest of the sea.
13:11The mangroves will ruin the waters of the forest.
13:30I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
14:00I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
14:30I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
15:00I'm sorry.
15:30I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
15:31I'm sorry.
15:32I'm sorry.
15:33I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
15:34I'm sorry.
15:35I'm sorry.
15:36I'm sorry.
15:37I'm sorry.
15:38I'm sorry.
15:39I'm sorry.
15:40I'm sorry.
15:41I'm sorry.
15:42I'm sorry.
15:43I'm sorry.
15:44I'm sorry.
15:45I'm sorry.
15:46I'm sorry.
15:47I'm sorry.
15:48I'm sorry.
15:49I'm sorry.
15:50I'm sorry.
15:51I'm sorry.
15:52I'm sorry.
15:53I'm sorry.
15:54I'm sorry.
15:55I'm sorry.
15:56I'm sorry.
16:03If they knew about the nature and magnitude of the waste matter and industrial effluent being
16:10dumped into the Arabian Sea every day, people visiting the Clifton Beach and Sea View might
16:16think twice before venturing into or romanticizing it.
16:26Karachi receives 665 million gallons of fresh water every day, out of which 520 million
16:33gallons go to domestic households and 145 million gallons are diverted to industries.
16:3920% of this fresh water is consumed and the remaining 80% is converted into waste.
16:46The three treatment plants that are supposed to filter it before run-off are underutilized
16:51because of faulty or non-existent connections.
16:55Only 20% of Karachi's sewage makes it to one of these treatment plants.
16:59The rest is discarded into the sea through natural rains.
17:04Hazardous waste from the engines of industry is disposed of with similar carelessness.
17:10A treatment plant for tanneries was set up with the help of the Netherlands government,
17:14but its operational success is clearly questionable.
17:17In this pollution, there is a lot of pollution that is coming from industrial pollution or
17:22site areas.
17:23There are lethal chemicals and heavy metals, which are very limited to marine life.
17:30I am telling you that the water was very clean in this area, in this area, in this area,
17:36I'm going to tell you that the water was very clean in the entire Karchi area.
17:42That's why the pollution was very low, the industries were very low,
17:47and the savourage was not as much as it was now.
17:51One is that it is untreated.
17:55They directly put it in the water, in the water,
17:58and then the marine life is over.
18:01And sometimes you will get the water, the water will get the water.
18:06It becomes clear that this is because of the industry pollution.
18:10The cattle colony in Laandhi is a perfect example of this callous disregard for anything beyond the immediate.
18:18With 1500 farms housing 400,000 buffaloes and cows,
18:22it is the largest concentration of dairy animals in one place in the world.
18:27It releases 8,000 gallons of manure either directly into the sea through drains
18:33or spreads some out to dry, thus expelling ozone-depleting methane into the atmosphere.
18:39The manure is killing off all marine life in its proximity.
18:43LARI river and LARI river are involved in the river.
18:48You will see that the illegal nets are used to be their illegal nets.
18:53The
19:13that transfer is made in a process of transfer.
19:15And that's what we bring in our own use.
19:18So, they have to face different problems.
19:22There are two big trees,
19:24Malir and Lyari.
19:26They need to put box trunks on both sides.
19:31Box trunks means cover drains.
19:33So, they can get sewage.
19:37And then, they can get the drains in the treatment plant.
19:43So, they can be treated with water in the water.
19:45And the other areas of the river will work for the rain.
19:49So, this plan is very simple.
19:51And the estimate is only 7 Arab rupees.
19:56Which is approximately about 120 million dollars.
20:00So, that's nothing.
20:01If the population of Karachi and the water,
20:05we have to save everything from this waste.
20:09The fact that there is a long-term solution to this,
20:12that is not being aggressively pursued,
20:14adds insult to injury.
20:17To date,
20:18all of Karachi's master plans have been based on sound planning principles.
20:22They identify sustainable solutions to issues like waste disposal
20:26and land utilization in the face of growing population density.
20:30But those plans traditionally have been made completely redundant
20:34by a lack of political will.
20:37There is a growing distance between the Karachi strategic master plan 2020,
20:41developed by the last local administration and its execution.
20:47there is an essential part there in my life for the past.
20:51All of Karachi's master plan 2020,
20:54all of Karachi's master plan 2020.
20:56If we will add them to the current plan.
20:58If we will apply them,
21:00then there are no barriers,
21:01the power of power and society,
21:06beyond the border,
21:07what are the problems that are being adopted?
21:08which are the projects that are working on,
21:12can be very controlled.
21:15What is the rule?
21:17The first rule is that the planning and the projects
21:22that any kind of ecology,
21:27in which the city is real,
21:30will not stop the ecology.
21:34The second rule is that the land use,
21:38the land use,
21:40will be in a sociological and environmental way.
21:47Only the land use of the potential value
21:50will not be done by the potential value,
21:54which is nowadays.
21:56How much money can be made?
21:59The land use of a commodity.
22:02It will be seen as a result.
22:05The third rule is that
22:07where you can cut the value of your influence.
22:12If you are a part of your work class or the middle class,
22:16those
22:37communities that live in the city
22:41can be protected.
22:43So if you apply these four rules,
22:46I think it will completely change.
22:50The choice is not, as some suggest,
22:53as simple as progress or no progress.
22:56Activists point out that while development is necessary,
23:00citizens need to know their rights.
23:02They need to think about how much development they want
23:05and at what cost.
23:09When citizens have known about and exercised their rights,
23:13they have been able to change things for the better.
23:16Consider the story of Sugar Land City.
23:19Sugar Land City was launched in June 2006.
23:23Nakhil, a subsidiary of the Imar Corporation,
23:27signed a memorandum of understanding
23:29with the then Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz
23:31to develop a large tract of Hawkes Bay Land in Kimari Town.
23:34The city within a city, dubbed Sugar Land,
23:38was to be built on 68,000 acres.
23:42Our Sugar Land City,
23:44which is the essence peat tree,
23:46which is now until now,
23:48we catch fish in this area.
23:50And then when it becomes Sugar Land City,
23:53what will the migrants get to that area?
23:56There is no problem.
23:58Why?
24:00The security problem is here.
24:02We are VIP people.
24:04We are not living here.
24:06So, what is this kind of a threat?
24:08The people who have rights from the people who have rights,
24:10who have rights,
24:12and who have rights to the people,
24:14and who have rights to the other people,
24:16and who have rights to the others,
24:18and who have rights to the others.
24:20And the people who have rights to us should be
24:21destroyed in the country.
24:22We are the people who live in Sugar Land City.
24:24So, in the city ofода,
24:26there are millions of people living in Sugar Land.
24:28And then, the pollution of this time
24:30will also fall in the mountains.
24:32Or, there is no harm to the government?
24:34If the government has any project,
24:37what do they need to think about it?
24:42I have seen it in the waterfront.
24:46I have almost died.
24:49If they have been here,
24:51then I will die.
24:56If I don't die physically,
24:58then my soul will die.
25:00Because without the waterfront,
25:02it will not be possible.
25:04If we are going to do this,
25:06then what will we do?
25:08We will do this for 0.1 percent.
25:13We will make an exclusive experience here.
25:19What is it for?
25:21We are not going to live in this city.
25:25I am here.
25:27It is my country.
25:29It is my country.
25:30It is my country.
25:31I do not understand
25:32what is the decision of our rights.
25:35Citizens and stakeholders
25:37launched a vigorous campaign of opposition
25:39in the press and the courts.
25:41The project was eventually abandoned.
25:45Then, another front was opened
25:47in the battle for the coast,
25:49when the DHA announced waterfront development plans
25:52for its 14 km stretch of beach.
25:59Yet again, hotels, towers, flats,
26:03shopping complexes, recreational areas
26:06were to dot the sea view beach stretching
26:09right up to the Gizri creek.
26:11The southernmost tip of DHA Phase 8 was also sold to Imar.
26:16This global construction firm
26:18of the Palm Jumeirah and the World in Dubai fame
26:21has started construction on Crescent Bay.
26:24Crescent Bay is a high-rise residential and commercial complex
26:28on reclaimed land and defence Phase 8.
26:31It will feature, among other things,
26:34a five-star beachfront resort
26:36that will restrict ordinary Karachiites' access to sea view even further.
26:41But this was nothing compared to the implications
26:44of Imar's planned super-luxury development
26:47on Bandal Island off the coast of Karachi,
26:50the Diamond Bar Island City.
26:53Approval for the development of Diamond Bar Island City
27:01by the UAE-based company
27:03was granted by the government in 2006.
27:0612,000 acres were Dury handed over to them.
27:10The $43 billion project was to be completed
27:14over a period of 13 years
27:16and would have included a 1.5 km long bridge
27:19connecting DHA Phase 8 to the island.
27:22The modern city would have had
27:2515,000 housing units, commercial plazas,
27:29leisure points, industrial parks,
27:32free-trade zones and port terminals.
27:35And Bandal and Burdo Islands
27:37would have been irredeemably transformed.
27:42Located just off the coast of Karachi,
27:45Bandal and Burdo Islands
27:46are two of the largest in the Indus Delta.
27:49The shifting sand dunes here can reach heights
27:52of up to 3 meters.
27:54Removing these islands from the food chain
27:56they are an integral part of
27:58would have spelled tragedy for the multitude
28:00of life forms they nurture.
28:02Local fishermen were concerned that their passage
28:04to open sea would be blocked
28:06and that they would no longer be able to land on the islands.
28:10The northern area of the island has a dense mangrove cover
28:16that is a haven for migratory birds
28:18and a breeding ground for fish, crustaceans and other marine life.
28:23The project would have violated the Pakistan Environmental Protection Act
28:27and many international biodiversity conventions.
28:30The World Conservation Union has declared the islands as a high priority area.
28:37The destruction of mangroves would not just destroy flora and fauna,
28:41it would leave the area vulnerable to tsunamis and cyclones.
28:45The border of the island has always come to the equator of the island of the island.
28:50The cyclones have come 40's and 30's and a lot of them have wanted to die.
28:58However, the big cyclones was here in 1906
28:59and it was here in 1906.
29:02In the end of the elderorde,
29:04in this video, there was a water in the mountains of the mountains of the mountains of the mountains ...
29:11...
29:14...
29:16...
29:19...
29:22...
29:24...
29:26...
29:27...
29:30...
29:32And the old city, which is on the top of the other city,
29:37was also filled with water.
29:40And this cyclone can come back.
29:44And these are the mangrove swamps,
29:48the flats,
29:52which will save you from the cyclone.
29:56You can't save it completely.
29:58Consider what will happen in the 10 to 15 years
30:03during which Karachi's population swells further.
30:07Will the sea remain passive as we continue to steal its shore,
30:11restrict its movement and poisoning?
30:14According to scientists,
30:16Karachi is one of 20 megacities in South Asia
30:19that are in direct danger of rising seas
30:22as a result of global warming.
30:25What happens once the sea begins to push back?
30:28The current economic downturn
30:33has forced the temporary shelving of some controversial projects.
30:37But finance, like nature, abhors a vacuum.
30:41When the time is right,
30:42the greed for land and profit will rear its head again.
30:45It is imperative for the people, representatives,
30:48and institutions of Karachi
30:49to recognize their vulnerabilities
30:51and protect their strengths.
30:53They must work together to ensure their interest in communal spaces
30:58like seashores is held sacred as Karachi evolves.
31:02And they must continue to ensure their interest in the future.
31:05The first thing is,
31:07is that if a green turtle is affected by some kind,
31:11or if a bug is affected by some kind,
31:13or if a mangrove is affected by some kind,
31:15or if a mangrove is affected by some kind,
31:17or if a mangrove is affected by some kind,
31:19or if a cake is affected, it doesn't need development.
31:25And while staying in this state,
31:27you can make it without a doubt.
31:30Whatever you want to develop,
31:33it's not that the Sahel will stay like that.
31:38But the development of the state,
31:40it will keep it in mind.
31:45Life starts with water.
31:47Life is not possible without it.
31:50In its treatment of this precious natural resource,
31:53whether stream, river, lake or sea,
31:56a human race can find its own reflection.
32:01The people of Karachi need to take a closer look
32:04at what is happening to their city by the sea.
32:17Music by Ben Thede
32:30.
32:32Transcription by CastingWords
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