Seminar: ‘Experts need to be better trained to handle issues associated with water scarcity’

The two-day event at NUST featured experts from China, Pakistan.

A two-day seminar that concluded on Wednesday discussed water scarcity, a problem that both Pakistan and China are facing, said a press release.

The knowledge-sharing workshop focused on modelling water future using environmental sustainability approach. The workshop was jointly organised by the NUST Institute of Civil Engineering and the NUST School of Civil & Environmental Engineering (SCEE). Dr Nasrullah Khan, SCEE principal, was the chief guest.

Dr Khan said that the Chinese National Committee on Irrigation and Drainage (CNCID) and NUST have jointly developed a project proposal on “The Impact of Climate Change on Water Stress Situations in the Yellow River Basin”, which aims to investigate water stress situations, the impact of climate change on future irrigation water demand and optimising water productivity with uncertainties from land and water use as well as climate change.

Prof Dr Yinong Li, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research (IWHR), expressed deep concern on the escalating water crisis and scarcity of water resources. He said that both China and Pakistan had been victimised by the same threatening situation of water scarcity, which needs to be overcome through enhancing capabilities of the young engineers and scientists.



In her keynote address, Jianxin Mu, CNCID Executive Secretary, said that the Yellow River basin, located in the mid-north of China, plays a critical role in China’s social and economic development, despite the fact that it had relatively limited water resources.

She said that the water resource of the Yellow River basin is decreasing and water stress represents the most pressing issue in basin water management.

She added that Pakistan and China are among the many countries around the globe that are confronted with the challenges of water scarcity. The major objective behind conducting joint training session is to enable water resource engineers, planners and managers work effectively for securing water for domestic, industrial and agricultural use, while protecting vital ecosystem.



Later in the technical sessions, Dr Nasrullah Khan elaborated on the impact of climate change on water resources in China while Prof Dr Yinong Li the same in Pakistan.

The first day featured hands-on training sessions on Pakistan’s climate change policy and the institutional arrangements for its implementation, impacts of climate change on water resources in the country, investigation of climate change on water resources by using new GCM results downscaling approaches and characteristics of climatological, dry and wet summer monsoon in Pakistan by focusing on the upper troposphere.

The second day featured training sessions on flood and drought management initiatives in Pakistan, and the introduction, demonstration and use of BHIWA model.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 24^th, 2013.