"Pakistan is an agro-
based economy on which relies its more than 60%
of rural population. The fact should not be ignored
that the world is experiencing a faster change
in climate in the twenty first century than it
ahs in the past. Increase in global average temperature
has resulted in the crises of Fresh water which
brings big challenges related to the cash crop,
fisheries and livestock. The problem of water
logging, salinity and genetically bad seeds can
be overcome by using latest technology because
experts of the University of Karachi know how
to convert challenges into opportunities. It is
thus playing its part efficiently and effectively,"
said the Acting Vice Chancellor, Prof. Dr.
Shahana Urooj Kazmi, while addressing to the
inaugural ceremony of the workshop on Advances
in Physiological Ecology of Salt Tolerance
jointly organized by the University of Karachi
& UNESCO Chair in Sustainable Halophyte Utilization
on Tuesday 27th April 2010 at KIBGE, Pro-Vice
Chancellor-Prof. Dr. Nasiruddin Khan- said
that in Pakistan, there are vast surfaces of barren
and abandoned marginal lands that are commonly
believed useless on the contrary a huge research
and demonstration activity in the last decades
has demonstrated their unsuspected value because
mankind today is not in a position to overlook
such untapped resources. Prof. Dr. Ajmal Khan
elaborated the objectives behind this workshop
and told the audience that the main focus will
be the use of modern technology to understand
the physiology of salt tolerance in plants, so
that the complexities of Halophytes can be unfolded.
The Korean expert Dr. Teak Ryoun Kwon,
who is an expert of Plant Stress Physiology, told
that he is willing to participate in networking
with all the Asian Universities especially with
the University of Karachi. A three dimensional
collaboration will be fruitful in this regard,
which includes the exchange of scientists, organization
of mutual academic activities and signing MoU's
with various research projects. While talking
on the theme of the workshop he said that salt
tolerance is one of the most important problems
worldwide that needs immediate solution. Water
of good quality for agricultural uses is becoming
ever more limited in regions where irrigation
is necessary due to increasing requirements for
domestic and industrial uses. Sea water or saline
water may be used to irrigate a variety of plants,
including Halophytes, he added. Dean faculty of
science, Prof. Dr. Darakhshan Haleem said
that the rapidly increasing world population puts
ever more pressure on land and water resources;
it becomes therefore imperative to undertake serious
efforts to expand agricultural crops in those
vast unused areas that are an enormous potential
resource. Under those extreme conditions of soil
or water salinity where no crop of agriculatral
interest can be grown it is possible to imagine
dedicated halophyte plantations for forage production,
soil rehabilitation, bio-energy generation, landscaping,
carbon dioxide sequestering, and a number of other
useful purposes at no cost in terms of good quality
water and soil, Therefore, it is imperative to
study these halophytes in different ecologies
& should provide them genes that are required
for their growth in solemnized land. A large number
of faculty members, workshop participants and
students were present at the occasion.
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