Experts stress for water and food security

LAHORE: The water and climate experts at the 2nd Pakistan Water Week 2022 stressed the need to promote sustainable and improved water and food security in Pakistan, a statement said.

Around 25 international water and climate experts attended the international conference of 2nd Pakistan Water Week 2022 in-person, while 50 international experts from academia, government departments, research, and development organisations attended the event virtually.

The International Water Management Institute (IWMI) Pakistan, CGIAR Initiative on NEXUS Gains, Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) jointly organised the conference themed ‘The Role of Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystem (WEFE) Nexus for a Climate Resilient Pakistan” under the umbrella of the Ministry of Planning Development and Special Initiatives (MoPD&SI) and the Ministry of Water Resources.

During the event, the experts highlighted that the lack of scientific data on water availability and usage is the biggest hindrance in water resource planning, development and building climate resilience.

Pakistan is the eighth climate vulnerable country in the world where the agriculture sector is using 90 per cent of fresh water compared with other south Asian countries. There is a need to look for alternatives to produce the same amount of yield with less water consumption.

The three-day international conference had three thematic areas including Climate Resilient Pathways: Adaptation, Mitigation, and Sustainable Development for a Secure Pakistan; Politics, Policy and Institutions – Good Governance and Strengthening Capacities; and Technologies and Innovations – Responding to the Challenges. Under each thematic area, eight thematic sessions were discussed in detail.

The participants of the conference said that the nature-based solutions (NbS) for improving water resilience is much needed in Pakistan. There is a need to find ways to uptake NbS such as water reuse and recycling through wetlands, biological processes, classifying different grades of water enhancing recharge to groundwater resources both with managed and unmanaged recharge, they added.

PCRWR Chairman Dr Muhammad Ashraf said that water resources management in Pakistan is becoming complex day-by-day. Water security is emerging as the most important non-security threat, he added.

“The national water security means national food security, and national food security means national security itself. To address the issue of water, we need a multidimensional approach,” Dr Ashraf remarked.

International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), CGIAR NEXUS Gains Initiative Deputy Programme Leader Dr Claudia Ringler said that Pakistan Water Week 2022 focuses on co-developing and scaling NEXUS innovations using foresight methodologies and trade-off analyses.

“It is important to energise food and water systems sustainably and inclusively, as the rural areas are in a dire need for clean energy solutions. We need to develop the capacity for Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystem (WEFE) actors including emerging women leaders as education is central to agricultural and economic growth. Our goal is to strive for parity,” she added.

MoPD&SI Chief Economist Dr Nadeem Javaid said that resilience should be seen as the ability to deal with adversity, withstand shocks, and continuously adapt and accelerate as disruptions and crises arise over time.

“Fortunately, we have a very good Public Private Partnership (PPP) framework at the federal and provincial level. PPP could be a more efficient approach to deal with water infrastructure projects,” he added.

Federal Minister for MoPD&SI Ahsan Iqbal said that water is a scarce commodity because people continue to treat it as a commodity, and must be valued.

“We have two major challenges related to water security – demographic challenge of fast-growing population and fast-paced urbanization,” he added.

“There is a need to use water in a responsible manner so we can cater to the needs of different sectors, i.e., water for agriculture, for industry and for drinking.

It requires a holistic approach. In Pakistan, we have limited capacity for water reservoirs. The new reservoirs will only make up for the lost capacity of old reservoirs due to salinity accumulation,” the minister remarked.

The MoPD&SI is working on the Vision 2035 and putting up policy briefs for different sectors to make informed choices of sacred resources for their sustainable use.

“I look forward to the recommendations of Pakistan Water Week 2022 and I assure you my fullest cooperation and support in implementation of those recommendations,” he concluded.

IWMI Pakistan and Regional Representative – Central Asia, Country Representative Dr Mohsin Hafeez highlighted that the impact of this year’s heatwave and flooding events due to climate change have only exacerbated the problems facing Pakistan and its use of water.

“The conference has helped to address the systemic cross-sectoral thinking across water, energy, food and environmental systems for climate-resilient development in Pakistan,” he said.

There are clear opportunities to reduce the adverse impacts of climate change on the poor rural communities. This conference has shaped up the focus and agenda of water planning and management moving forward for Pakistan, he added.

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