Call for judicious use of water

Experts say lack of scientific data biggest hurdle in water resource management

ISLAMABAD:

Federal Minister for Planning Development and Special Initiatives Professor Ahsan Iqbal said that Pakistan was facing two major challenges: a fast-growing population and fast-paced urbanisation, which put pressure on water resources.

 The minister made these remarks while speaking at the concluding session of the international conference on “The Role of Water-Energy-Food- Ecosystem (WEFE) Nexus for a Climate Resilient Pakistan,” organised jointly by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) Pakistan, CGIAR Initiative on NEXUS Gains, Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) under the umbrella of the Federal Ministry of Planning Development & Special Initiatives and the Federal Ministry of Water Resources.

 “We need to use water responsibly so we can cater to the needs of different sectors like water for agriculture, for industry and for drinking as it requires a holistic approach,” said the minister.

 The minister said that in Pakistan, “we have limited capacity for water reservoirs and the new reservoirs will only make up for the lost capacity of old reservoirs due to salinity accumulation”.

 Ahsan Iqbal said that the ministry was working on “Vision 2035” and was putting up policy briefs for different sectors to make informed choices of scarce resources for their sustainable use.”

Ministry of Planning Chief Economist Dr Nadeem Javaid said: “Resilience should be seen as the ability to deal with adversity, withstand shocks, and continuously adapt and accelerate as disruptions and crises arise over time”.

 “Fortunately, we have a perfect public-private partnership (PPP) framework at the federal and provincial levels.

 The PPP could be a more efficient approach to deal with water infrastructure projects,” he added.

 Water experts stressed the need to promote sustainable and improved water and food security in Pakistan.

 The experts highlighted that the lack of scientific data on water availability and usage was the biggest hindrance in water resource management, planning and building climate resilience.

 Around 25 international water and climate experts attended the event.