**Conserve What Our Children Deserve: Environmental Hazards and Their Impacts on the Inhabitants of Rawalpindi, Pakistan**

### **Shafia Azam, Uzma Imtiaz and Dure Najaf**

**Abstract:** Climate change is one of the gravest issues encountered by humanity today, resulting from serious environmental hazards that are acutely poisoning the natural ecosystem. This study endeavored to pinpoint the causes of environmental hazards and explain their detrimental effects on the climate. Using a qualitative approach, we investigated the attitudes of the local community and analyzed their practices through the thematic analysis method, hoping to provide a refined idea about the risks and community tactics involved in discerning the menace of environmental degradation. In-depth interviews were conducted in the local languages, with 60 respondents of Rawalpindi who hailed from different walks of life alongside local inhabitants, which were later transcribed into English. The findings revealed that the major environmental hazards, air pollution, waste disposal, and scarcity of clean water caused by factories and vehicles; poor waste disposal management; rapid urban population growth; the contamination of water; and poor sewerage systems, have negative effects on the physical and psychological health of people. This study shows that there is a dire need for the continuous process of planning and management to be enacted by educationists and government officials to create awareness and mitigate the existing environmental hazards.

#### **1. Introduction**

Mother Earth provides bliss to its inhabitants through its natural resources. These resources are the real treasures of the world in which we sustain our lives. The innate selfishness of humans has even impacted these treasures. Human activities have resulted in the degradation of natural bliss. These resources, which are a gift for humankind, are depleting one by one and are becoming a curse for humankind. It is because of the continuous degradation of the natural resources of this planet that our environment is gradually eroding with the rust of human actions. With the continuous degradation of environmental resources, adverse substances impacting the natural balance of the Earth are turning out to be the environmental hazards (Liverman 2001) with which the Earth is currently battling. These environmental hazards are impacting the natural balance of the environment, thus having detrimental effects on individuals.

South Asia is one of the most affected regions in terms of environmental problems. The rise in temperature, glacier melting, food issues, and water security are some of the issues that have multiplied the environmental hazards that have

caused a national political issue. Pakistan is one of the countries around the world that is affected by environmental changes and has the most polluted cities. Lahore, the second-largest city in Pakistan, is currently ranked as the world's most polluted metropolis, forcing authorities to scramble to combat this environmental disaster (Al Jazeera 2021). Multiple reasons are responsible for environmental degradation. Environmental hazards have emerged in the form of pollution. Pollution of varying kinds is acting as a monster and engulfing the lives of many every single day. Air pollution, land pollution, and water pollution are the three different forms of pollution that are taking hold of the health of hundreds and making individuals pay a price as high as their lives in the battle with this chaos. The indoor or outdoor contamination of the environment in which an individual sustains life is considered air pollution (World Health Organization 2022), which is slowly creating this unseen haze of danger around humans. Mother Earth is not even safe from the atrocities of humans and is now facing the worst kind of land pollution ever recorded in history. With industrialization, land pollution has become a major concern for many governments. Even water is not safe from this hazard, and improper sewage treatment is reflected in the form of impure drinking water, which is impacting two-thirds of the global population, as 2 billion people in the world today do not have the access to clean drinking water because of the constantly increasing levels of pollution (CDC n.d.). Drinking water is especially becoming a poison in the lives of children. Rai et al. (2020) indicate that water pollution is linked to a range of adverse conditions, including infections and diarrhea, and it can lead to stunted growth in children in South Asia. Akhtar et al. (2018) revealed that in urban areas of Lahore, drinking water contains heavy concentrations of lead and chromium, which are becoming a major reason for hindered development and congenital disabilities among children.

Pollution in its varying forms is destroying the natural rhythm in underdeveloped countries where the issues are enormous, and managing these issues takes a lot of wealth and many strategies. In underdeveloped countries, where economic and political issues are enormous, climatic concerns are at the bottom of the priority list, and this is exactly why the environmental hazards in Pakistan are enormous and increasing gradually due to a lack of effective strategies.

Environmental hazards have emerged as a perplexing concern today. It is important to explore whether we can provide our children with a healthy life or not as they are directly impacted by environmental hazards, especially air pollution. Children living in areas where the air quality is unsafe and the air has a higher concentration of pollutants frequently develop respiratory and cardiovascular disorders (Colbeck et al. 2010). Exposure to air that is blackened with pollution leads to reduced lung function among children, who thus develop a risk of permanent lung damage (Zaidi et al. 2019). Sabzwari and Qureshi (2019) assert that when children have to sustain lives in areas where pollution concentrations are at a peak, it impacts their cognitive and neurological development as well.

In Pakistan, especially in the metropolitan city of Rawalpindi, the amount of pollution has doubled over time, which has had varying causes and impacts on the lives of people hailing from every walk of life. This study aims to understand the basic causes behind the growing environmental hazards in the metropolitan city of Rawalpindi. In addition, it explores the impacts of growing environmental hazards upon the lives of people residing in the suburbs.

Environmental hazards are enormous, and so is their impact on the global world. The current study was based in Pakistan, and the sample was limited to Rawalpindi city in light of selective sampling. The different causes of pollutants and their impacts on the lives of people were analyzed. In addition, measures were then recommended based on the experiences of the local population of Rawalpindi, which was divided into various categories based on the participants' professional and personal lives. Against the backdrop of this discussion, this study addresses the following research questions:
