To celebrate World Environment Day 2004, UNIC Islamabad organized jointly with the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) and IUCN - The World Conservation Union a seminar and a boat trip in Karachi. A total of about seventy people including the teachers from ten public and private schools, NGO representatives, the Admiralty, the Sindh Government and the media participated in the event. The seminar was held at the National Institute of Oceanography.
The Director-General of NIO and the Country Representative of IUCN addressed
the seminar. UNIC Director highlighted the significance of World Environment
Day and read out the Secretary-General's message. UNIC translated the message
into Urdu for distribution at the seminar. The Environment Department of the
Defence Housing Authority spoke about the beach environment and community problems,
while IUCN touched upon the issues of aquatic marine life and mangrove forests,
and the Coastal Development Authority of the Sindh Government explained about
its efforts to conserve green turtles on the beaches. Later, the participants
were taken to a trip on two boats to observe the pollution of coastal zones,
the planting of mangroves on coastal marshlands and rehabilitation of coastal
vegetation.