Pakistan has made a request for international water cooperation.
According to a UN report, Critical issues of water security are being faced by Pakistan.
UNITED NATIONS: The UN 2023 Water Conference has come to an end following an innovative response to the world’s water crisis. Nearly 700 commitments were made by governments, corporations, and civil society to advance the water agenda, which is a deal-breaker for advancing sustainable development in general.
On Thursday, Pakistan emphasized the need of transboundary water collaboration, noting the 1960 Indus Water Treaty with India as an illustration of such successful cooperation that offered a practical method for resolving difficulties relating to the two countries’ shared water resources.
Pakistan shares surface and groundwater resources with two of its neighbors, according to Hasan Nisar Jamy, secretary of the Water Resources Ministry and main representative of Pakistan at the UN Water Conference in New York.
In South Asia, Jamy said, “population increase and rising water demand, along with the effects of climate change and environmental degradation, have made water cooperation even more vital.”
“One example of such successful cooperation, which offers an efficient platform for cooperation and management on water concerns, is the Indus Waters Treaty, which regulates sharing of the waters of the Indus basin,” Jamy continued.
The goal of the conference—the first in nearly 50 years—is to address issues relating to water. Jamy cautioned against unilateral acts, which could “spiral into risks to regional peace,” on the first day of the three-day symposium.
Pakistan is one of the top 10 water-scarce nations in the world, as well as one of the most vulnerable to climate change. Jamy emphasized how vulnerable Pakistan’s primary water source was to climate change.
On “Water Governance,” Jamy stated that a strategy was being implemented at the moment with an emphasis on the building of new reservoirs, increasing water usage effectiveness, ensuring conservation, and enhancing management.
The main Pakistani delegate continued, “We have also started to create and promulgate ‘Ground Water Rules,’ and build supportive authorities at the province and sub-national levels.
The UN University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-IWEH) released a new report during the conference titled “World Water Security 2023 Assessment,” which included Pakistan in a list of 23 LDCs and SIDS that face critical levels of water security and sanitation services.
The UNU-IWEH stated in the report that these 16 LDCs and seven SIDs were characterized by high rates of WASH-related mortality.
the Solomon Islands, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Eritrea, Sudan, Ethiopia, Vanuatu, Djibouti, Haiti, Papua New Guinea, Somalia, Liberia, St. Kitts & Nevis, Libya, Madagascar, South Sudan, Micronesia, Niger, Sierra Leone, Yemen, Chad, Comoros, and Sri Lanka are among the 23 nations.
According to the report, “These countries are severely constrained from achieving water security in seven of the ten components, low levels of access to safely managed drinking water and sanitation services, health, as measured by high WASH-attributed mortality, water quality, water value, water governance, and water resource stability with high interannual variability and low storage capacity.”
The research evaluated 57 nations in the Asia-Pacific region, including Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Afghanistan, Vanuatu, Timor-Leste, Pakistan, Cambodia, and Yemen, as well as 11 SIDS and 10 LDCs with a combined population of nearly 4.67 billion.
The research highlighted that in 2022, Pakistan saw unheard-of rainfall and flooding that affected over 33 million people and resulted in estimations of total losses and damages topping $14.9 billion and $15.2 billion, respectively.
The report issued a dire warning: “Beyond human lives lost, an economy’s safety from losses due to water-related calamities can have a substantial affect on all elements of development and countries prosperity.”
Lead author of the paper and senior water security researcher at the UNU-INWEH, Dr. Charlotte MacAlister, stated that countries are unable to sustain freshwater ecosystems, livelihoods, and human well-being without it.
According to a statement released by the UN, MacAlister stated that “this global evaluation reveals important development issues that policy discussions should center on in the seven years left to fulfill SDG 6.”
The first global assessment of water security was valued by UNU-INWEH Director Prof. Kaveh Madani as “a important contribution” to the UN 2023 Water Conference, which was held on New York from March 22–24.
While not a simple task, this research identifies the areas where policy, finance, and action should be focused in order to advance, meet the goals of the 2030 Agenda, and guarantee that those who are most vulnerable and insecure are not left behind.
