The message of the most recent IPCC Report on climate change and the environment is crystal clear because it emphasises the rising frequency of natural disasters.
Dr. Mohsin Hafeez, the IWMI country representative, gave a brief explanation of the consultation’s goals to the participants. He claimed that in order to address the country’s water scarcity issue, significant, audacious steps must be taken.
In order to address the country’s growing water security problem, experts at a multi-stakeholder consultation on Tuesday urged the establishment of an effective network of all societal sectors, from policymakers to civil society organisations, with a focus on mainstreaming youth.
Representatives of the public and private departments involved in water resource conservation attended the consultative workshop on Transformative Futures for Water Security (TFWS) organised by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI).
On this occasion, a brief video message from IWMI Director General Dr. Mark Smith was played. He discussed the TFWS topic that IWMI had previously introduced, as well as the need to improve regional water security.
According to him, the problem of water security included a number of factors, including the need for water of sufficient quantity and quality for human health, the health of ecosystems, and agricultural production.
The message of the most recent IPCC Report on climate change and the environment is crystal clear because it emphasises the rising frequency of natural disasters. The question of how to lead this audacious step toward water security is what motivates our initiative, and the answer is that the youth will take the initiative, he continued.
Smith continued by mentioning the IWMI’s creation of Transformative Future for Water Security with the foundation of a bottom-up approach rooted in South-South dialogue.
According to Dr. Mohammad Ashraf, chairman of the Pakistan Council for Research in Water Resources (PCRWR), water scarcity issue was defined as when an individual did not have access to safe and affordable water to satisfy his or her needs for drinking, washing, and livelihoods needs, then that region was defined as water scarce.
The availability of water per person had significantly decreased since 1947, when it was less than 1,000 cubic metres per capita, he continued. By 2030, Pakistan will experience a 30% water shortage, despite the fact that 60% of the population currently uses dirty water.
Dr. Ashraf warned that the dry seasons were getting drier and the wet years or seasons were getting wetter, but it was difficult to figure out how to change this.
He emphasised the importance of action in light of Islamabad’s one-meter-per-year groundwater depletion.He added that since groundwater supplied 100% of industrial water, 90% of drinking water, and 60% of water for agriculture, groundwater depletion could be controlled.
He added that the country’s water crisis was brought on by inadequate water rates and ineffective system design. He suggested that the nation’s governance, site-specific solutions, legislative advancement, and mainstreaming of youth all need to be improved.