The relationship between the Pakistani leather trade and the environment is being strained by a growing demand for the product in the world and ignorance of environmental problems resulting from the tanning process. A one noted Pakistani news journalist commented, "The tanning industry is notorious for its heavy pollution through effluents containing organic and inorganic matter, dissolved and suspended solids, accompanied by requirements of high oxygenic demand and having toxic metal salt residues...these tanneries discharge effluents without any treatment into water reservoirs and the sea."(1) Often, the tanneries are located in industrial areas within Pakistan that contain a large percentage of the population. With scarce land resources, the pollution is affecting large numbers of people. While the effluent contaminates the water supply on the land, it also pollutes the sea. This pollution in turn affects the food supply for the population. Moreover, much of the country is subjected to the direct air pollution caused by burning the tannery residuals into the open atmosphere. All of these forms of pollution are having detrimental effects upon the health of Pakistanis.

The primary pollutants that leather tanning in Pakistan creates are heavy metals (chromium, cadium, etc.), various organic chemicals, and acids. The Pakistani government recently tested the effluent runoff from leather tanneries in Pakistan and verified that the discharges were toxic. The sample of tannery effluent contained .30 copper milligrams per liter, .15 cadmium
milligrams per liter, 7 zinc milligrams per liter, 1.14 nickel milligrams per liter, and 1.8 lead milligrams per liter.(2) These levels were almost all well above the suggested standard for toxic substance concentrations in effluent. Very few of the tanneries have any type of waste treatment facility and this runoff is released into the nearest drain (most likely an open one) or body of water such as the sea or a river. The effluent is uncontrolled by any process treatment, waste recycling, or end-of-pipe treatment.

Leather tannery discharge, combined with mangrove destruction and over-fishing, are contributing to a sharp decrease in shrimp production. The mangroves--whose leaf litter is a major source of nutrients--provide a diverse habitat for a complex and interdependent community of invertebrates, fish, birds, and reptiles.(3) In addition, almost 90 percent of tropical marine species seek shelter in the mangroves for one stage of their life cycles. The loss of the commercially important shrimp in Pakistan is having a devastating effect on the fishing industry, which is partially dependent on the shrimp supply. Shrimp exports are an important foreign exchange earner for the fishing industry and Pakistan as a whole.

Moreover, the leather tannery operations near Peshawar are polluting the Kabul river and threatening its use for domestic and irrigation purposes as a freshwater fishery.(4) Although the majority of the leather tanneries are centered around Karachi and have negatively affected the coastal area, the other factories located further inland near rivers are having just as devastating effects. This pollution is having a particularly costly environmental effect on the Pakistani government's attempt to encourage private freshwater fisheries in order to combat rampant overfishing along the coastline. Due to the increase in river pollution from the tanneries, and therefore tainting the available water resources for the fishponds, the project to alleviate the strain being place on the coastal marine life is not likely to be a success.

The leather industry in Pakistan is continuing to grow. In fact, the overall bulk of industrialization still lies ahead and it is expected that industry will double in 10 years and then double again.(5) The leather tanneries will no doubt be a part of this burgeoning trend. As long as there is a profit to be made in the arena, new factories--small or large--will continue to start up. In 1990 the leather sector jumped to become the second largest foreign exchange earner for the country by contributing 10.41 percent toward the total export revenue.(6) The increase in tanned leather exports (not even including leather garments) from 1990-1995 alone is astounding. The leather products industry increased its amount of exports from $271 million USD in the 1990-1991 fiscal year to $349 million USD in 1994-95!(7)

The impetus behind the increase in tanneries in Pakistan is a rising world demand for tanned leather. Indeed, a Pakistani journalist explains that "while the production of tanneries in the developed countries has grossly come down due to either closure of tanneries or the leather produced there has become too expensive due to strict environment control laws, the developed countries have become more and more dependent on the supply of lather from the developing countries...mainly due to the violation of even basic civic laws in the developing countries whereby the tanners discharge all the effluent without any treatment ... Pakistan is no exception."(8) This problem is immediately apparent when one researches the limited body of environmental guidelines for leather tanneries and the lack of enforcement of any existing environmental legislation.

Paradoxically, the national government--in seeking to increase government revenue and employment opportunities--is encouraging the growth of the leather tanning industry with export rebates. This policy of encouraging the growth of the leather industry with little regulation is compounding the environmental problem in Pakistan. Although some NGOs and concerned citizens are working to raise awareness of the dangers of these policies, little is being done to control the situation. Until Pakistan is forced to adhere to international norms for pollution control in its domestic leather tanneries, the situation will likely worsen at the expense of the average Pakistani citizen in terms of a declining quality of life.

The polluting aspects of the tanneries inevitably hit the poorest the hardest. Traditionally, in Pakistan, the "lower- caste" children and (poorer) people work in the tanneries, which is strenuous and labor-intensive. These jobs have been handed down in the family for generations. Moreover, in a populous and developing country such as Pakistan, people often compete for these jobs and are forced to put up with dangerous working conditions. In addition, the pollutants are often released in areas that will affect the people with the least political power. The lower-caste inhabitants of these areas are affected by the effluent on a daily basis. The untreated effluent released by leather tanneries impinges on the health and quality of life of Pakistanis. By releasing the untreated effluent into the water supply, citizens not only drink the toxic chemicals, but the effluent affects the food supply chain as well. In addition, the increase in air pollution has repercussions to health problems, specifically leading to lung illness.