News
Saturday, May 01, 2010
Climate change may trigger droughts, floods in Pakistan
* National conference maintains freshwater resources vulnerable, could be strongly impacted by climate change
Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: There is an urgent need to come up with a national plan to avoid the consequences of climate change, as it will alter the temporal and spatial patterns of precipitation and trigger droughts, mudslides, typhoons, cyclones, and floods in the country.
This was the consensus reached by speakers at a national conference on “Integrated Water Resource Management to Address Climate Change in Pakistan”, organised by the Sindh Coastal Areas Network (SCAN) in collaboration with the Freshwater Action Network-South Asia (FANSA) under the auspices of the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) at a local hotel on Friday.
Planning Commission of Pakistan Deputy Chairman Ishfaq Ahmed was the chief guest on this occasion, while World Bank Senior Institutional Development Specialist Dr Imtiaz Alvi, PPAF Chief Technical Officer Zafar Sabri and leading water specialists and environmentalists also spoke on the occasion.
Vulnerable: The speakers said that freshwater resources were vulnerable and had the potential to be strongly impacted by climate change, with wide-ranging consequences for human societies and ecosystems, adding that Pakistan had one of the largest integrated irrigation systems in the world. “However, owing to its sensitive ecological setting and rapid population and pressures of economic growth and with all its rivers emanating or passing through India, it is faced with complex water resource issues. These issues are exacerbating owing to climate change and need to be addressed in a coherent manner, following an integrated approach,” they said.
The purpose of the conference was to raise awareness about the importance of water and climate issues and integrate climate change considerations into the issue of water deficit, governance, participatory planning and capacity building for water resources management, water supply and sanitation.
They said that besides supporting vertically integrated development, coordination and implementation of water related climate adaptation strategies – transboundary, regional, national and local scales – it was also aimed at enhancing national institutional capacities to build resilience and mainstream climate change adaptation into water resource management and decision-making process.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk