ISLAMABAD, Nov 04 (APP):A plenary session on Australian water innovations in the Indus Basin at the 6th Pakistan Water Week 2026 highlighted more than 40 years of Australia–Pakistan cooperation in agricultural research. It also marked the launch of a new project to help vulnerable communities in Sindh adapt to climate change. The session, “Australian Water Innovations in the Indus Basin”, was part of the conference “Commitments to Action: Advancing Water …
Australia, Pakistan showcase four decades of water research partnership at Pakistan Water Week 2026
ISLAMABAD, Nov 04 (APP):A plenary session on Australian water innovations in the Indus Basin at the 6th Pakistan Water Week 2026 highlighted more than 40 years of Australia–Pakistan cooperation in agricultural research. It also marked the launch of a new project to help vulnerable communities in Sindh adapt to climate change.
The session, “Australian Water Innovations in the Indus Basin”, was part of the conference “Commitments to Action: Advancing Water Security and Climate-Resilient Food Systems in Pakistan”, held in Islamabad from November 2 to November 5.
It brought together Australian and Pakistani experts working under the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), whose partnership with Pakistan began in 1984 and spans water management, livestock, horticulture, crops and agricultural policy.
Dr Neil Lazarow, ACIAR Research Program Manager for Water, launched a 4.5-year, AUD 3 million project on climate-adapted livelihoods in Sindh province.
Eight partners from Australia, Pakistan and Norway will work with communities on three overlapping pathways: agriculture, migration and entrepreneurial activities.
The project will follow a community-led, gender-responsive and inclusive approach. Solutions will be co-designed with communities through action research over four to five years before lessons are scaled up to inform policy.
“Water security is fundamental to a sustainable agricultural sector in Pakistan. This session showcased ACIAR-supported research in Punjab and Sindh that is improving our understanding of water resources, agricultural water productivity and water governance, to support better livelihood outcomes for smallholder farmers and rural communities,” said Dr Lazarow.
Dr Munawar Raza Kazmi, ACIAR Country Manager for Pakistan, said the partnership rests on locally led research. He reported that soil moisture sensors deployed across provinces have delivered water savings of around 30 per cent and productivity gains of 15 per cent for farmers.
“Partnership is at the heart of ACIAR’s work in Pakistan. We bring Australian and Pakistani expertise together to co-design research that responds to local priorities, rather than impose Australian technologies. It is about supporting locally led solutions that emerge from the needs and knowledge of our partners and farming communities,” said Dr Kazmi.
Other ACIAR-supported work presented during the session included:
-Salinity management: A community-centred project in the southern Indus Basin (2021–2024), involving 15–16 institutions, found that solutions co-designed with farmers outperformed top-down interventions. Women and youth took part as co-researchers. Separate work on saline agroforestry produced 31 arboretum sheets and a mobile application for farmers, covering 24 districts in Sindh and six in South Punjab.
-Climate-resilient water allocation: Pre-season and intra-season planning tools are now being used by the Indus River System Authority. Researchers recommended stronger on-farm storage and informal water markets to improve efficiency.
-Smarter investment: A six-dimension framework (agricultural, financial, economic, environmental, social and governance) is helping decision-makers evaluate water infrastructure schemes on evidence before funds are committed.
-Pulses: Technology adoption is being supported to reduce Pakistan’s annual pulse import bill of about one billion dollars.
-Artificial intelligence: Speakers outlined opportunities in real-time ground sensing, satellite-based crop water deficit monitoring and decision support for canal command management. They stressed that AI-driven water governance must be accompanied by transparency, equity and accountability.
Dr Mohsin Hafeez, Strategic Program Director, Water, Food and Ecosystems at the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), presented ACIAR’s investment in the Policy Innovations Science Program. The programme focuses on bridging the gap between water research evidence and national policy uptake in Pakistan.
“Evidence changes outcomes only when it reaches those who make decisions. By strengthening the link between science and policy, and by building institutional capacity that outlasts individual projects, we can turn field-level innovations into governance that works for Pakistan’s farmers and communities,” said Dr Hafeez.
