Minister for multi-pronged approach to tackle water issues

LAHORE:World Wildlife Fund (WWF)-Pakistan under its project titled “International Labour and Environmental Standards Application in Pakistan’s SMEs (ILES)” funded by the European Union and in collaboration with Pakistan Engineering Congress celebrated World Water Day 2021.

The theme of this year’s celebration was “Valuing Water”. Water crisis is one of the greatest risks to the global economy, almost half the world's population will face severe water scarcity by 2030 if urgent action is not taken. Therefore, different experts from government sector, academia and NGOs gathered to share their knowledge on valuing water for sustainable water management.

Minister for Irrigation Mohsin Khan Leghari was the chief guest of the ceremony. Speaking on the occasion, he said that there was a dire need to take a multi-pronged approach to tackle water issues, including focus on water conservation initiatives, building adaptation and resilience to climate change, increasing public awareness, improving agricultural practices and introducing cost effective indigenous water and management technologies. He added that everyone should contribute to making Pakistan a water secure country.

Amjad Saeed, president Pakistan Engineering Congress, said that agriculture is the backbone of Pakistan’s economy. However, this sector is consuming more than 90 percent of our freshwater resources. Lack of understanding the value of water has seen over $70 billion worth of water being thrown to the sea every year by the country. He added that we need to tackle the potential of the hill torrents which can bring an additional 1.5 Million Acre Feet of land under cultivation.

Muhammad Abdullah, Manager Freshwater, WWF-Pakistan, stressed on the need for implementing Integrated Water Resource management in order to ensure the sustainable water supply for the country. He added that we should understand the ethical and economical value of water in order to better manage our water resources. He said that health and well-being, sustenance of environment, biodiversity and economy are all reliant on adequate water supply. Therefore, we cannot let it succumb to the “tragedy of commons”. The webinar was attended by a diverse group of participants, including researchers, academics and government officials who actively participated in it as speakers and participants.