WWF declares KPT, adjoining areas as 'dead zone' for aquatic life

As human-made climate change has destroyed the natural resources in Karachi, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) declared the coastal areas as the 'dead zone’ for marine life.

Muazzam Khan, a Technical Advisor at WWF, revealed a large amount of wastewater and chemicals, making Karachi port and adjoining areas polluted, declining marine life production. 

Khan added that at least 500 gallons of untreated water were being dumped into the sea regularly, depriving the port city of marine production.

Raw or untreated sewerage water from the Lyari River, Malir River, and other nullahs was discharged into the seas, converting seawater into poison for marine life, and the pollution was stretched to 10 kilometres. 

Muazzam Khan described the coastal areas of Machar colony and Gulbai as ‘extremely polluted’, which stopped the production of aquatic life in the said areas due to the inclusion of untreated water in the sea.

Karachi port and surrounding areas were also declared as ‘dead zones’ due to the polluted water and waste. 

Technical advisors claimed that human-made pollution deprived Karachi’s seas of 10 expensive marine species. 

However, according to a World Bank study in 2022, plastic was also playing a part in polluted water.

Indus River is the second most polluted river in the globe, which carries 40 percent plastic in the Arabian Sea.