News stories 22nd Jan-22th March 2012

WWF Nature Carnival 2012

The WWF Nature Carnival 2012 was held on 22nd January 2012 at PAF Museum. A great number of people attended this years carnival. Many schools, universities and commercial entities had set up their stalls. Among several engaging activities organized there, the most innovative was the 3D display model competition. Students from different institutions participated in live presentations to the judges and audience. The students of Institute of Environmental Studies, UoK had participated in this model competition with a theme of ALTERNATE ENERGY. They presented different types of alternate energy sources like solar power, wind power, tidal power, hydroelectricity and biomass. The biomass energy sources also included the production of biogas, bio-ethanol and bio-diesel. They stated that the main objective behind this theme was to draw the publics attention towards the use of alternate energy sources instead of utilizing the conventional non eco-friendly energy supplies. The Agriculture Department of Karachi University and Institute of Environmental Studies shared the 1st position for their remarkable presentations. All the winning institutions were presented with shields and certificates.

Session on Forests of Pakistan

March 22nd, 2012- Nature Conservation Club arranged a session which was on Forest of Pakistan by Mr. Rashid Dahri, Deputy District Officer from Forestry Department of Karachi in the auditorium of the Institute of Environmental Studies, University of Karachi. It provided a unique opportunity for the attendees to acquire knowledge on forests of Pakistan. He described the session as A part of awareness on prevention of cutting of forests in Pakistan and to acquaint the audience to understand the problems of the environment, if do so. He then also stated At present Pakistan is producing only 14 million cubic meters of wood, and by next year it will require 50 million cubic meters in order to cater the demands of people. The session was followed by a questionanswer session. This informative session enlightened the students on such a neglected topic and facilitated them to explore and determine their possible future in this particular field.

Director of IES presenting a token of appreciation to the speaker. Mr. Rashid Dahri

On Saturday, March 10th 2012, a session was conducted by Mr.Atif Shehzad, Assistant Manager in SUPARCO on Remote Sensing in Institute of Environmental Studies organized by Nature Conservation Club. It was an informative and evoking lecture. The purpose of this session was to understand the basics of remote sensing and also to analyze its importance in studying various environmental impacts, in a much more precise manner. The lecture was also followed by an interactive questionanswer session. This session was really helpful for all students as it gave 1 an introductory picture of an evolving field, which can be opted for specialization in future.

Session on Remote Sensing and GIS in Environmental Monitoring