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Groundwater quality is significantly impacted by urbanization and land use land cover (LULC) changes. The current study investigated the impact of LULC on groundwater quality in Quetta city, Baluchistan province, Pakistan. During the years 2015 and 2021, a total of 58 groundwater samples were collected from drinking wells for chemical analysis. The hydrogeochemistry of groundwater was investigated using Gibbs diagrams, Piper diagrams, and spatial distribution maps. The water quality trend was depicted using the Wilcox, USSL diagram, and Water Quality Index (WQI) from 2015 to 2021. The LULC analysis of Quetta was carried out on Google Earth Engine's cloud-computing platform using imagery from the Sentinel-2 satellite with low cloud cover (

This study incorporates European Space Agency (ESA) C-band Sentinel-1a data to evaluate and identify land deformation in natural and reclaimed land of coastal city Karachi, Pakistan on a multi-temp...

It is widely believed that the tourism industry, particularly ecotourism, contributes significantly for sustainable development. However, planning for ecotourism development is a multi-criteria pro...

Oil spill is an environmental challenthat influences various aspects of coastal zones including humans, health, economy, and coastal ecosystems. The source of the oil spill can be both natural and ...

The northern area of Pakistan, Gilgit Baltistan (GB), has huge tourist potential due to its exotic mountain beauty. According to the GB Tourism Department, a large number of tourists (around 200651) visit GB every year from across the country. Due to a large influx of tourists in the area both positive and negative impacts have been felt especially on the environment and on the local communities. The environmental impacts of tourism were investigated in this research in two districts of GB. Three villages were selected from each of the districts of Hunza and Diamer as the basis of this research. This study was based on the perceptions and attitudes of the respondents. The total number of questionnaires completed was 340 filled from different respondent categories. Results showed that deforestation, loss of biodiversity, generation of solid waste, water, air and noise pollution, damage cultural and heritage sites and are the main environmental issues caused by tourism activities in the villages in these districts. About 42% of respondents said that deforestation and loss of biodiversity were high in the Diamer district while in Hunza 39% of respondents said that solid waste generation was high. Similarly, 21% respondents in Hunza and 14% respondents in Diamer agreed that water pollution is caused by tourism activities. Microbial analysis of water confirmed the presence of Salmonella typhi, E. coli and Enterobacter sp. There were positive impacts of tourism with results revealing that 87% of villagers and 98% of businessmen responded that tourism had provided them with jobs and business during the peak tourism season. Hotels and restaurants are the main source of jobs in GB mainly as porters and guides. According to the data collected dry fruits, medicinal herbs, gemstones and handicrafts provided considerable attractions for tourists. It is recommended that a combined effort be made by the local communities, tourism departments and other Govt. Agencies to ensure the cleanliness of tourist attractions.

Understanding dynamical changes in climate extremes are vital in predicting extreme climate events and lowering their associated impacts on the environment and society. The objectives of this study is to analyze the spatiotemporal variations in temperature extremes and their association with selected atmospheric circulation indices. We use daily maximum temperature (TX) and minimum daily temperature (TN) data for five glaciers in the Hunza district of central Karakoram for the period 1982–2019. We validate the European Reanalysis (ERA5) data with available observed and in-situ data before further analysis. A total of eight indices based on maximum and minimum temperatures are chosen. They include maximum of TX, minimum of TN, three warm indices, and three cold indices. The Mann-Kendall method and linear trend analysis were used to examine the trends, and Pearson correlation analysis was used to analyze the correlation between the temperature extremes and different atmospheric circulation patterns. The warm indices, including the number of warm nights, warm days, and Warm Spell Duration Index (WSDI), and TN and TX, showed increasing trends in the central Karakoram from 1982 to 2019. On the other hand, cold indices, including the number of cold nights, cold days, and Cold Spell Duration Indicator (CSDI), showed decreasing trends. Warm indices and TX showed significant positive correlations with atmospheric circulations. The Arctic Oscillation index (AO) displayed significant correlations with the warm indices (p