The writer is a freelance journalist based in Karachi.
IN school we were repeatedly told that two-thirds of the earth’s surface was water. The geography teacher would draw the globe, mark the continents and then colour the rest of the circle blue denoting water. Next we were told about glaciers that store huge amounts of freshwater. But nobody taught us that, invisible to us, there was even more water groundwater crammed between rock and sediment in the form of massive aquifers hundreds of feet below.
Even water managers and hydrologists who talk about harnessing and diverting surface water through building large and small infrastructure projects have failed to deliberate on the virtues, and therefore protection, of groundwater. In fact, experts acknowledge their understanding of groundwater, as compared to surface water systems, is limited.
For this segment and indeed the Nigerian economy as a whole, the effect of the global pandemic and the accompanied lockdown has resulted in an unprecedented economic tailspin, which has further affected businesses, consumer spending, jobs and livelihoods. With this in mind, MTN initiated The Revv Programme, an initiative aimed at addressing the critical needs of MSMEs. After a series of 11 impactful masterclasses facilitated by industry experts across major sectors, 200 MSMEs have been selected to be a part of MTN’s accelerator programme,
Y’ello 200. The
Y’ello 200 consists of micro, small and medium-sized businesses cut across different sectors all over the country. The
Experts support clean, green recovery for better future
Islamabad
April 24, 2021
Islamabad : Participants of a special webinar on ‘World Earth Day, climate crisis and the road to Glasgow’ have asked developing countries to undertake enhanced global and regional cooperation that plays critical role in responding to growing challenges emanating from climate change.
The Webinar was organised here by Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) in connection with the World Earth Day.
Director Climate Programme, World Resources Institute-India, Ulka Kelkar, said that this year, the earth day was precedented by the pandemic, locust attack and a devastating super cyclone in India and Bangladesh. The challenge for South Asian countries is to develop a low-carbon infrastructure to rely on for a sustainable growth in the future and they need technologies for their climate adaptation and for taping on their renewable energy resources.
Pakistan behind Afghanistan in malnutrition
National
February 8, 2021
Islamabad: Public health expert Dr. Shahzad Ali Khan has said that malnutrition is a huge problem in Pakistan and Pakistan is placed in stunting growth index on 2nd number after Afghanistan while it is the worst in all indicators of stunting, wasting, underweight and exclusive breastfeeding.
Dr. Shahzad was speaking a webinar on “Nutrition integration for social protection and early education” organised here by Sustainable Development Policy Institute. Dr. Shahzad observed that minimum acceptable diet, meal and minimum diet diversity in Pakistan is poor in both terms of quality and quantity and hence, it must be improved.