Experts warn of water crisis due to climate change

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will be facing absolute shortages of water after three years in 2025, as the situation is aggravating mainly because of climate change and massive fluctuations in patterns of severe weather conditions, experts said.

They were of the view that Pakistan is not among the countries largely contributing towards carbon emissions but Islamabad will have to take steps to keep itself within the desired limit over the coming years.

The experts said this during the journalists’ training workshop on climate change organised by Resilient Future International (RFI) and Strengthening Participatory Organization (SPO) in Islamabad this weekend.

Aftab Alam, an international climate change expert, and CEO of RFI said that Pakistan crossed the line of water-stressed country in 1990 and that of the water-scarce country in 2005. The unchanged situation would lead to an absolute shortage of water in 2025, he said, adding such a state of affairs is a receipt of disaster.

He said the water-intensive production system in agricultural and industrial sectors must be transformed into water-smart systems, adding the government, academia, parliamentarians and civil society organisations need to play collective and collaborative role in this regard.

Besides the water situation, lead trainer Aftab Alam highlighted the impact of climate change on health, agriculture and food security. He said the expanded timeline of dengue cases in 2021 is one of the key impacts of climate change on health. The rising trend of erratic rains challenges agricultural production, he said, adding in 2020, monsoon season witnessed 41 percent above average rainfall, whereas 2021 saw nine percent below average rains.

The journalists suggested climate emergency to ensure a focused response against the challenges. They said the coordination system should be developed among all the stakeholders for collective planning, implementation and monitoring. The participants also discussed the role of media managers and owners to allocate greater resources for the climate journalism.

Rana Kashif, Director Environment, CDA distributed certificates among the participants and highlighted the CDA’s contribution towards environmental development of the capital.