Dredging deep into nature.

In the drive to increase economic activity, the impact on nature often takes a back seat. Dredging in Pakistan is an example of such activities and their resultant side effects. Pakistan is responsible for less than 1% of the world's Green House Gases, yet it is the eighth most vulnerable nation to the climate crisis.

In 2022, Pakistan experienced its worst flooding in decades. Entire villages were wiped out, lives were lost, and people's homes and livelihoods were in jeopardy as a result of unprecedented rainfall. Massive storm water surges swept across a defenseless landscape, natural or otherwise, inundating about a third of the country.

Therefore, it stands to reason that Pakistan has indeed fallen victim to climate change, caused primarily by massive emission-happy developed economies (in both East and West) of the world, which is arguably the main culprit for natural disasters, including rapidly changing weather patterns, flash flooding and torrential rains.

However, in the case of Pakistan's manmade changes to coastal regions which are exacerbating coastline erosion through the destruction of natural coastal habitats in the name of development, dredging practices to deepen shipping channels and filling in wetlands, Pakistan is very much a perpetrator and not the victim.

The global economy relies on seaborne trade to fuel worldwide growth and in furtherance of that objective, continuous technological advancements enhancing cost-effectiveness have birthed larger, more efficient vessels, creating the need to deepen river beds and aquatic highways to provide sufficient access. At some point, almost all major ports in the world have required dredging to enlarge access passages for larger vessels to dock.

Dredging is carried out to remove unwanted deposits from waterways. However, even though the activity is a regular practice and aids in marine traffic, it is not without its dangers. Unrestricted dredging poses a massive threat to aquatic flora and fauna and if not carried out sensibly, can spell long-term disaster for the marine environment.

Changes to the sea floor from dredging may impact underwater currents in unexpected ways. A change in currents can have disastrous effects not only on the navigation and docking of vessels in the channel but can overwhelm and erode natural and even man-made structures. An example of this would be Pasni Harbor where less than adequate hydrological studies underestimated the impact of changing currents...