Pesticides from agriculture and industrial waste end up in soil, water or air and are fast becoming toxic for living things.This poses a serious threat to a healthy society, experts stress. Prominent environmentalist Dr Maqsood Anwar tells APP that rapidly growing population and industrial development have affected our environment. However, conserving natural resources and protecting the environment through public awareness can be helpful.Highlighting the importance of the natural environment’s protection, he says a major reason for the rapid increase in pollution is continuous deforestation which needs to end. Dr Maqsood adds the survival of forests and their protection is indispensable to controlling environmental pollution."Green and dense trees symbolise such lush beauty that it does not have any substitute," he says.Dr Maqsood says industrial pollution can impact human health by introducing harmful particles that most often remain suspended in the air. There are also heavier materials that remain on the surface while contaminating soil and groundwater.Replying to a question, he points out that the popularity of mobile phones and consumer electronics have increased the amount of heavy metals in the environment."Lead, cadmium, mercury and arsenic are introduced to the environment in the form of particles during factory production and later again when the consumer throws them away," he highlights.These metals are toxic to things living in soil, animals and humans, sometimes causing immediate death. “They can also accumulate in smaller amounts inside the body over time, leading to chronic illness,” he states.Another environment expert Mehmood Khalid Qamar says trees hinder those sound waves causing noise pollution. He emphasises on awareness among the public over climate change and its adverse effects. The expert stresses that the resolve to provide a clean and tidy natural environment must be enforced in the youth.Ministry of Climate Change Deputy Director Mohammad Saleem Shaikh says above normal flows in glacial streams, which all eventually feed the 3,500 kilometres-long Indus River, clearly indicate that the country's glaciers were melting rapidly.Saleem adds that temperatures in most of the mountainous valleys never used to go beyond 30 degree Celsius during the summer, but now they were surpassing 40 degree Celsius at times. Replying to a question, he claims the Ministry of Climate Change (MoCC) was playing a key role in planting trees across the country to overcome environmental issues.Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) environmental expert Dr Fahad Saeed says rapid tree cutting and unplanned and illegal set up of factories is the main cause of environmental pollution, which includes sea-level rise, floods, higher than average temperature, a higher frequency of droughts and expanding desertification. Expressing concern over industrial waste, smoke and rapid deforestation, Dr Fahad says the government should evolve a comprehensive policy to control environmental degradation.Published in The Express Tribune, July 24, 2017.