The Prime Minister said with such damage to the exchequer, the developing country like Pakistan was losing one billion rupees daily due to environmental problems. Gilani said many environmental issues posed serious challenges including air pollution, water contamination, land degradation, industrial or vehicular pollution, waste generation or poor disposal system, deforestation and climate change.
"All these have posed serious challenges not only to the health of our people but also towards sustainable development," he said. He said enhancing forest-covered area is an enormous challenge as air pollution level in the country was four to five times higher than the WHO prescribed standards.
He mentioned water contamination, effluent treatment and saving the rivers and small tributaries from contamination for saving marine life as other challenges. Later, the Prime Minister gave away awards to Shabina Faraz (Jang, Karachi), Dr Irfan Baig (Jang, Quetta), Aftab Zahoor (Associated Press of Pakistan), Reena Saeed Khan (Dawn Magazine, Karachi), Faisal Raza Khan (Online, Islamabad), Abid Hassan (Dawn News, Karachi), Khalil Gibran producer, Asadullah Malik (Samaa news, Islamabad) and Sohail Khan (Daily Ausaf, Islamabad).