Washington: On May 19, the Stimson Center and the American Pakistan Foundation co-hosted a timely discussion on water insecurity in Pakistan – one of the most water-stressed countries in the world – as South Asia suffered a deadly heat wave.
In recent weeks temperatures in South Asia have set records raising alarm across the region and heightening concerns on the climate crisis, said Farwa Aamer, research analyst at the Stimson Center’s energy, water and sustainability program.
Recently, the International Monetary Fund declared Pakistan to be under a severe water shortage and reports by the United Nations Development Program and the Pakistan Council of Research and Water Resources warned that Pakistan might reach absolute water scarcity by 2025, she related. “Long periods of drought, receding glaciers, politicization of shed rivers, consumption of contaminated water and impacts on the agricultural sector are some of the ramifications of this changing pattern of water that we are experiencing,” Aamer said. “If urgent action is not taken, we are looking at a crisis of biblical proportions in the coming years or months.”
“Many of Pakistan’s water challenges stem from lack of political will and poor water governance and management,” Aamer noted. “There are overlapping challenges when it comes to the water sector. Data and knowledge sharing is important to achieve better results.”
Aisha Khan, a developmental professional who works in the mountain regions of Pakistan and is founder and head of the Civil Society Coalition for Climate Change, stressed the need to de-couple water from politics, engage with other countries in the region to look at water insecurity in a more holistic manner and not use it as a political tool.
According to a 2016 report from the Pakistan Council for Water Research and Resources, in 1990 Pakistan crossed the water-stressed line; in 2003 it crossed the water scarcity line.
In 2018, Pakistan developed a national water policy, but there is still no comprehensive water management plan. “Presently, the crisis we are facing is the rapid depletion of our groundwater and this is the area on which we need to focus,” Khan said. “Everyone agrees that water is the number one issue that needs to be addressed in Pakistan.”
Water security is a global issue, she pointed out. According to studies, all of the aquifers in the world are depleting and about 2.3 billion people are already facing water shortages. In the next 30 years an estimated 500 billion people will face this crisis.
“We need to work on this in a global manner, at the international, national and regional levels and then have a convergence where it provides the optimal use of water in a way by promoting hydro solidarity and hydro diplomacy,” Khan warned. “We need to look at it as a collective responsibility with inclusive uses and as a shared resource that has to be managed for everyone’s benefit.”
“I feel that in our country we do not attach enough importance to science, research and technology,” Khan said. “We need to translate science into simpler language and communicate and have a more effective strategy for messaging to the public so there is a connection between science and society.”
Pakistan’s Karakorum Mountains, she pointed out, are a part of the HKHK mountain system – a region spanning 2,400 km across Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, India, Nepal and Pakistan where impacts of climate change are becoming more visible in recent years. “We have glaciated areas, but if you look at research on glaciology in Pakistan or on the changing behavior of the permafrost or the impact of black carbon, we don’t see much data emanating from Pakistan…we really do not have field studies, but we need to correlate data with field studies,” she said.
Simi Kamal, founder and chairperson of the Karachi-based Hisaar Foundation, an organization committed to water, food and livelihood security, noted that water security means “water for all people everywhere in Pakistan.”
Focusing on climate change is a governance and management issue, Kamal said. “We need to focus on science, on the levels of pollution and the quality and quantity of water at different levels.”
The entire way water is managed in Pakistan has become moribund, Kamal continued. “This whole institutional structure of water…is all moribund. Nothing has changed in the last 20 or 30 years.”
Communities understand the water problem as they face it every day and, while young people may lack the correct information and knowledge, “their attitudes, feelings and passion are right there,” she observed. “Young people in universities are waiting to be inducted into research studies, such as on the lower Indus Basin which is all in Pakistan, to develop a good database. If we do that, we can channel the youth really well.”
“We need new correct data for any plan to work,” Khan said. “All the pollutants are flowing into the water supply, and we can barely find clean water anywhere in Pakistan right now.”
Khan does not believe in dismantling dams, but does not recommend building any more, suggesting instead to look for low cost, local solutions.
“We need to save water from the monsoon rains, she recommended. “We can even harvest moisture from Karachi’s atmosphere. We need to build ponds – a million ponds, at least across Pakistan. A local pond will support livelihood, agriculture and be available for drinking water, and we also must put in conservation methods.”
In closing, Aamer pointed out the panel was all women and stressed the importance that “when we talk about science, hydrology, corruption and legalities, we also talk about making sure there are more inclusive gender-balanced climate and water policies going forward as we try to re-think or understand water insecurity in Pakistan.”
(Elaine Pasquini is a freelance journalist. Her reports appear in the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs and Nuze.Ink.)
