ISLAMABAD: In the wake of recent floods and resulting damages across the country, the World Wide Fund (WWF) for Nature Pakistan stressed on the need to act immediately to strengthen response towards climate-induced natural hazards which pose a grave threat to critical habitats, natural capital, people and their livelihoods.
Under the ambit of the Australia-Pakistan Water Security Initiative (APWASI), WWF-Pakistan organised a dialogue on ‘Urban Water Management’ to bring to the fore, challenges to surface and groundwater management and how water governance can be improved.
The aim of arranging this was promotion of open and constructive dialogue in order to mobilise resources, foster new partnerships, adopt locally-driven solutions and making measurable improvements towards sustainable water use and water stewardship in Islamabad and Rawalpindi.
The forum, comprising a network of public, private and civil society actors, developed a common understanding of water risks in the twin cities and participants highlighted key priority water risks and suggested instrumental strategies to mitigate these risks.
Experts discuss water risks in twin cities, strategies to mitigate them
WWF-Pakistan Director GeneralHammad Naqi Khan said for a country like Pakistan, climate crisis was a water crisis.
The scope and applicability of adopting the Water Sensitive Cities (WSCs) vision for Pakistan was also discussed, which is a nature-based approach (NBA) that focuses on management of the water cycle to make cities more liveable, resilient, sustainable and productive.
An overview of APWASI along with success stories from demonstration sites were shared with the participants.
John Snobar, the acting first secretary development (Australian High Commission), lauded efforts from all project partners and government departments including Capital Development Authority (CDA), Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) and Ministry of Water Resources for supporting APWASI and its activities. He also mentioned that this year’s monsoon rains had taken more than 1,000 lives and affected 33 million people.
Mr Snobar said that the Australian foreign minister had announced $2 million in urgent humanitarian assistance in response to the devastating floods in Pakistan. So far, he said, 100 rainwater harvesting systems and three filtration plants had been installed under APWASI, adding that this would be the starting point for promoting adoption of the WSC vision in Pakistan.
Sardar Khan Zimri, deputy director general (water management) CDA, expressed his support for activities related to the project. He added that CDA was focusing on integrating sustainable water management in its development programmes.
Other representatives from the Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR), International Water Management Institute (IWMI), CDA, Wasa, research and academia, and other non-governmental organisations (NGOs)convened to pledge their support towards developing and adopting locally-driven, low-cost solutions to improve access and availability of water and ensure sustainable water use and stewardship. Community representatives from the APWASI demonstration sites also shared their water woes and experiences about the successful transformation of their communities.
Participants were informed that the City-Wide Partnership Forum would serve as a springboard for the exchange of ideas, information and lessons learned and would facilitate the government in informed policy and decision making on urban water crisis.
Published in Dawn, September 1st, 2022
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