ISLAMABAD:Water experts at an international conference titled, ‘The Role of Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystem (WEFE) Nexus for a Climate Resilient Pakistan’ here on Wednesday stressed the need to promote sustainable and improved water and food security in Pakistan.
The international conference was organized jointly by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) Pakistan, CGIAR Initiative on NEXUS Gains, Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) under the umbrella of the Federal Ministry of Planning Development and Special Initiatives, and Federal Ministry of Water Resources.
Around 25 international water and climate experts attended the international conference of the 2nd Pakistan Water Week 2022 in person.
In addition, 50 international experts from academia, government departments, research, and development organizations attended the event virtually.
The experts highlighted that the lack of scientific data on water availability and usage was the biggest hindrance in water resource planning, development, and building climate resilience.
Pakistan Council of Research on Water Resources (PCRWR) Chairman Dr Muhammad Ashraf said: “Water resources management in Pakistan is becoming complex day by day. Water security is emerging as the most important non-security threat. The national water security means national food security, and national food security means national security itself.”
He further said that Pakistan needed a multidimensional approach to address the water crisis it had been facing.
Dr. Claudia Ringler, Deputy Program Leader, CGIAR NEXUS Gains Initiative, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) said that Pakistan Water Week 2022 focused on co-developing and scaling NEXUS innovations using foresight methodologies and trade-off analyses.
He said it was important to energize food and water systems sustainably and inclusively, as the rural areas were in dire need of 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” he added.
Dr. Nadeem Javaid, Chief Economist, Ministry of Planning Development & Special Initiatives (MoPD&SI) said: “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 levels. PPP could be a more efficient approach to dealing with water infrastructure projects.”
In his concluding remarks, Dr. Mohsin Hafeez Pakistan and Central Asia Representative of IWMI 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 the water, energy, food and environmental systems for climate-resilient development in Pakistan.
There are clear opportunities to reduce the adverse impacts of climate change on poor rural communities. This conference has shaped the focus and agenda of water planning and management moving forward for Pakistan.