Karachi marches for climate justice

KARACHI: A large group of participants in the The Climate March 2023 held in Karachi on Sunday demanded that authorities pay urgent attention to the climate crisis and work to create a clean city.

The march, which started from Frere Hall, passed through the Governor House, and culminated at the Karachi Press Club, saw citizens carrying placards inscribed with slogans such as ‘United Against Fossil Fuel’ and ‘Stop Ecocide of Karachi’.

A full list of their actionable demands was published on Climate Action Pakistan’s Twitter page.

The demands include the cancellation of the memorandum of understanding signed by K-Electric and Oracle Power in Port Qasim, and to phase out Thar coal.

They called for the restoration of Lyari and Malir river ecology.

They also protested the “illegal construction of Bahria Town which has served to destroy the ecology of the area”, among many other concerns.

The Climate March in Karachi is demanding Climate Justice Now!

Starting now at Frère Hall, we will March till Karachi Press Club with our 8 simple and straightforward demands:

🧵#ClimateMarchKHI23 #ClimateJusticeNow #ClimateEmergency pic.twitter.com/NvV93ybBub

— Climate Action Pakistan (@ClimateActionPk) July 16, 2023

According to a Dawn report, “the participants in the march tried to raise awareness and inspire action by talking sense and opening eyes. They told you why Karachi, the largest city of Pakistan, was also the dirtiest.”

Activist and organiser of the march Yasir Husain said that “on top of municipal failure, shortened lives, ill health and climate disasters, are the destruction imposed on the people by the government’s own development projects.” 

“Capitalist gains based on greed have become synonymous with haphazard construction practices, which are harmful to our environment, our ecology and our people,” he said.

The participants included people from different walks of life, civil society, and various NGOs.