World Bulletin / News Desk

Up to 100,000 people have migrated from Pakistan's coastal region of Sindh due to incoming sea tides ruining their livelihood, environmentalists have said.

Recent years of salt water contamination due to rising sea levels have made it impossible to grow crops or raise animals, with conservationists saying that more than one million hectares of land have become arid.

Al Jazeera's Osama Bin Javaid reported from Thatta in Pakistan, where villagers have been forced to rebuild their lives after upstream dams set up for agriculture elsewhere has caused a fresh water crisis in the delta.

Both surface water and ground water have become unusable, with the once fertile Indus river basin turning into a desert, as sea water brings sand inland as far as 50 kilometers.

Conservationalist Tahir Qureshi said coast agriculture, forestry and fisheries have been destroyed by rising sea levels.

Forests which once provided fuel wood have disappeared, and the absence of fresh water fish has had an impact on local fishermen, as well as the wider environment.

The migration inland has also created other problems such as unemployment, as former fishermen struggle to adapt to other jobs.