Indus Earth Trust commissioned (June 2008) Cairns-ICL (UK), in association with CBCL (Canada), and GIS Terra (Kazakhstan) to prepare a coastal zone development framework (CZDF) and a strategic environmental impact assessment (SEIA) for a sub-regional area of Pakistan. The area concerned extends from the Korangi River of the NW Indus Delta to the Hub River, all forming part of the wider Karachi Metropolitan Area Coastal Plain. The area is subject to development pressure within a depreciating marine and coastal environment. The study comes under the auspices of the IUCN (World Conservation Union) and World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

The Study objectives were the identification of provisional terrestrial and marine areas to be proposed to the Government of Pakistan (GoP) for designation as National Reserve Areas for the Conservation of Nature; establishment of provisional National Areas for the Conservation and Development of Sustainable Communities, with particular emphasis on those dependent on fishing; designation of Special Development Action Areas for integrated multi land-use development; identification of land and marine environments suffering chronic or acute contamination for subsequent detailed analysis and treatment, to be designated by GoP as provisional Contaminated Land and Marine Environmental Remediation Areas; and preparation of an Overall Development Framework and Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment for the Indus Korangi-Hub coastal zone and Korangi River and its tributaries as an integral part of the Indus Delta.