Sepa signs MoU with AKU.

KARACHI -- The Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Aga Khan University (AKU) with an aim to collaborate and build capacity on environmental issues.

Director general of Sepa Naeem Mughal and dean of AKU's medical college Dr Adil Haider signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organisations.

Earlier, Dr Syed Zafar Ahmed Fatmi, a senior professor at the AKU department of community health sciences, gave a detailed orientation on the departmental working and objectives of the agreement.

The AKU department of community health sciences, he said, was the largest department of its kind in Pakistan and emphasised that this MoU would serve as a stepping stone for environmental protection.

The audience was informed that a quarter of deaths in the world were being caused by environmental degradation and that the largest number of deaths took place in Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific regions, followed by sub-Sarahan Africa, where around a quarter of deaths were likely caused by air pollution, chemicals, climate change and lack of access to sanitation.

Air pollution was estimated to cause seven million premature deaths annually, the audience was told.

Later, director general of Sepa gave a comprehensive presentation on the impact of air pollution and the steps taken by the agency to...