Consultative meeting: Nature-based solutions to overcome water scarcity stressed

HARIPUR: The participants at a multi-stakeholder consultative meeting on Wednesday expressed their resolve to join hands with WWF-Pakistan in achieving the objectives of scaling up nature-based solutions (NBS) for improving integrated water resource management and enhanced water security in the targetted areas of the Haripur district.

The day-long consultative meeting was organised at the Agriculture Farm Services Centre here.

Different stakeholders, including government officials of different line departments and the office-bearers of different community-based organisations, attended the session.

Abdul Salam of WWF-Pakistan briefed the participants on the five years project on Water Resource Accountability in Pakistan (WRAP), which is supported by the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) UK Government.

He also shared the overall dismal situation of the water scarcity and the future challenges that Pakistan would face in the wake of climatic changes. He said that the fast-shrinking water resources were the main concern of the WRAP intervention and that the WWF-Pakistan as executing partner would focus on nature-based solutions, which had been in practice by local communities for decades.

Harvesting, conservation, and recharge of undersoil water in the selected villages of Khanpur tehsil would be part of the future activities of the project, he added.

Experts in the session called for action on the fast-changing weather conditions and said that climate change was affecting the natural input of potable and irrigation water and the ultimate food security directly linked to the availability of water resources.

Hamid Marwat, project lead of the WRAP project shared the salient features of the project and its impacts on biodiversity, he said that the project team would ensure inclusiveness and draw strength from the expertise of the line departments, researchers, academia, and the communities in the targeted regions.