ave you ever wondered why, whenever we walk through the streets and markets of Pakistan, we are struck by an overwhelming sense of filth and neglect? Dust and grime seem to be our constant companions. It is rare to return home without feeling coated in a layer of dirt. Why is this the case? The signs of environmental neglect are everywhere: shopping bags flutter like flags on streets and fields, clinging to trees and clogging drains. If one does not live in a well-planned urban society, one is quite likely to frequently encounter rubbish dumps and unmanaged landfills. These piles of refuse are frequently set on fire, releasing toxic fumes. This waste management crisis compounds the pollution and public health issues we already face. Apart from a few pockets of cleanliness, this condition plagues nearly every part of the country.

Do we, as a nation, harbour an aversion to cleanliness? Even though a majority of Pakistanis believes that cleanliness is half of the faith, we hold a dubious distinction. On a global index measuring environmental performance, air quality, water resources and climate change mitigation called environmental performance index (EPI), Pakistan ranks a shocking 178th out of 180 countries. While nations like Estonia and Luxembourg thrive with high environmental standards, we are trapped in a cycle of neglect that threatens our quality of life. If we do not take immediate and transformative action, we risk not only the degradation of our environment but also the health, dignity and future of our nation.

The EPI is developed through a systematic approach that assigns weights to various policy objectives and issue categories to comprehensively measure a country’s environmental performance. The index is structured around three primary policy objectives: ecosystem vitality (45 percent), environmental health (25 perccent), and climate change (30 oercent). Each policy objective is broken down into specific issue categories, each of which contributes a proportion of the overall weighting. For instance, within ecosystem vitality, issue categories such as biodiversity and habitat and forests are assigned weights of 25 per cent and 5 per cent, respectively. Each issue category is measured through a series of indicators, to reflect the relative importance of different environmental aspects.

Globally, plastic waste constitutes a substantial portion of environmental pollution, impacting both marine and........

© The News on Sunday