Dr Qibla Ayaz, former chairman of the Pakistan Council of Islamic Ideology, says that we have been asked by the President of Pakistan Dr Arif Alvi to fulfil our social responsibility by including our role in educating the general public in the light of Islamic teachings on climate change. In this regard, a botanical garden is being prepared in the federal capital Islamabad, in a part of which an Islamic garden has also been proposed by the Council of Islamic Ideology, where all those trees and plants mentioned in the Quran will be planted exclusively.

He expressed these views while addressing the inaugural function of an awareness campaign organized by Pakistan Red Crescent Society Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on “Preventing the Effects of Climate Change in the Light of Quranic and Scientific Knowledge”. He said that it is pleasure for the Council of Islamic Ideology to partner with the Pakistan Red Crescent Society in this campaign, which would provide information on climate change in the light of Quran and Sunnah to the general public.

On the other hand, at the inaugural ceremony of the awareness campaign, Professor Asif Khan of the Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Peshawar, told the participants that, disturbingly, Pakistan is currently ranked fifth in the world in the list of countries most affected by climate change. It was seventh until two years ago. However, the government is taking all possible steps to address this, if more steps are not taken and awareness is not created among the general public, there is a danger that 80% of Pakistan’s glaciers will be extinct by 2040. In this regard, he added that the global temperature has risen by one per cent since 1850, which is a cause for concern. It will have to take steps before it can go any further.

The inaugural ceremony was attended by representatives of the German Red Cross, including the Pakistan Red Crescent Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, teachers and scholars from various universities across the country, who pledged to educate the general public on climate protection in the light of Quran and Sunnah, where the scholars in mosques and madrassas will explain the importance of protection of climate change. Meanwhile, the information will also be given on various social networking platforms.