Thar Coalfield: Sustainable Development and an Open Sesame to the Energy Security of Pakistan

Abstract

The paper discusses the role of Thar-coalfield, a 175 Billion tones reserve in enhancing the energy and combating global environmental change from the local and regional aspects. Pakistan's energy requirements are potentially huge. Being the sixth largest country in the world, with its growing population exceeded 190m by 2015. Rising population, improved living standards, increased per capita energy use, and industrialization has led to a high energy demand growth. According to latest reports the gap between the demand and supply of electricity is around 6,000MW. To meet the projected demand exploiting indigenous resources, such as Thar coalfield, a 100,000MW generation capacity reserve, could be the possible answer. Due to sustainable techniques in energy sector, 1) Coal mining is moving towards sustainable development; 2) circular economy has proven useful concept for promoting sustainable development; 3) coal industry can minimize its environmental impact from local to global level. Besides energy goals, environmental degradation associated with the mining activity poses a serious threat to the region. Therefore, some challenges need to be addressed, e.g., discharge management issues, concerns regarding pollution control, lack of technology needed to replenish solid waste; and, increased socioeconomic and environmental pressure on the coal industry. The study discusses how sustainable development measures in Thar coalfield can run the engines of economic growth without hurting the natural environment promoting prosperity in Pakistan.