The World Earth Day is being observed on Thursday across the globe including Pakistan to create awareness about environmental issues and climate challenges the international community is facing.

Each year on April 22 more than a half billion people participate in the Earth Day campaigns. People of all walks of life, backgrounds, nationalities and faiths observe the day around the world.

Symposium, seminars are being held across Pakistan on Thursday as educational institutions and Non-Governmental Organizations ( NGOs) are actively involved in creating awareness about the Earth Day through various activities.

Population growth, water scarcity, power and electricity crisis, deforestation, air and water pollution, solid waste management, etc, are also some of the prominent environmental challenges Pakistan is facing, Umme Hani, Director Department of Environmental Studies, University of Karachi, told Xinhua.

She said that for the last 40 years nations across the world have been observing the World Earth Day but nothing concrete has been done to cope with rising climate changes.

Hani said that this is the time that Pakistan must realize the environmental issues before it is too late. Proper strategy, planning and right measures could resolve these issues and can save the country from this dismal situation in the coming years, she said.

"The current environment issues are the result of not adopting environment friendly policies for years but now its our turn to solve it," the director said.

It is not just a celebration but a call for action, local environmetnalists commented, considering it as an important occasion for the government, corporations and individuals to work together for a global green economy.

However, it is not that simple to find a viable solution for the current environmental issues. There has to be a paradigm shift in "our way of thought and the way we perceive our environment," environmentalist said.

The day was founded by a United States Senator Gaylord Nelson in 1970 and is celebrated across the globe every year. The day has been observed against the detrimental impacts of modernizations and industrializations on human being and his environment.

Creating awareness among common people is necessary and politicians should make the Earth Day 2010 a turning point to advance climate policy, energy efficiency, renewable energy and green jobs, Hani said.

As a country lack of energy sources, Pakistan has been suffering the menace of loadshedding across the country which is being carried out for more than 10 hours a day and is badly disturbing routine life.

Meanwhile, the Pakistani government is trying to use renewable energy to overcome the crisis.

Peshawar, the capital city of the restive province of Khyber- Pakhtunkhwa, will witness the sun-powered streetlights soon, as a project has been set off in this connection on tentatively in the city to tackle the power crisis, local media reported Thursday.

"We should change our life style and save energy by reducing consumption, reuse and recycle of energy to cope with climate challenges," Hani suggested.