ISLAMABAD, Jan 11 (APP): Minister for Science and Technology
Rana Tanveer Hussain Wednesday underlined the need for tackling
challenges and threats posed by the climate change and its impact
on water resources.
Addressing the inaugural session of a day-long workshop, he expressed confidence that the Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) through its Think Tank Sub Committee on Water would link up Research and Development (R&D) institutions and academia to synchronize their collective wisdom to grapple with the climate change challenges and threats.
The workshop, titled “Impact of Climate Change on Water Resources
in Pakistan and Mitigation Options, was organized by the PEC here.
Prominent engineers and secretaries Agriculture, Livestock and
Irrigation Department of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Water and Power
Department of Gilgit Baltistan, Irrigation Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Irrigation Punjab, Irrigation Sindh and Irrigation Balochistan were among others who attended the workshop and gave their presentations.
Minister for Science and Technology Rana Tanveer Hussain said
“Climate change is a four tier approach; prevention, assessment, mitigation and rehabilitation,” adding that the approach needed close interaction among all the stakeholders dealing with issues relating to the climate change.
Appreciating PEC for holding the workshop on an important issue,
Rana Tanveer said the council had not only excelled in promoting the
engineering profession in line with the national requirements but also made efforts to highlight most pressing issues like scarcity of water resources in the country.
He said impact of climate change was the most crucial and obvious on
our lives as well as economy, adding that Pakistan was amongst the most vulnerable countries facing the climate change effects, especially on its water resources.
“The government of Pakistan, being a responsible members of
international community, has been actively participating in international
endeavors to combat this global issue and is party to several international treaties,” the minister remarked.
Besides, Rana Tanveer said he was confident that the PEC Think Tank
on Water what he called a `big initiative’ would further integrate the national efforts and response to tackle the challenges.
He hoped that the consultative workshop, participated by eminent
engineers, professionals, scientists and experts from federal and provincial governments, would devise a road map to reduce the impacts of climate change on the country’s water resources.
He said the Ministry of Science and Technology, being the national
focal point for S&T, was also striving to achieve the vision for prosperous and progressive Pakistan.
Rana Tanveer said Pakistan Council for Research in Water Resources
(PCRWR) had taken a number of initiatives covering desertification control and a network of laboratories for checking quality of drinking water throughout the country.
The minister said he believed that the collaboration among PEC,
provincial governments and irrigation departments would go a long way in working out the mechanism for implementation of water related policies and suggest ways and means to significantly reduce the impact of climate change on the country fastly depleting water resources.
In his opening remarks, convener PEC Think Tank Sub-Committee on
Water Engineer Raghib Abbas Shah apprised the participants about working of the council.
He said water resource management had a great potential in Pakistan
that needed to be developed without any further delay, adding that negative impacts of climate change were badly affecting the country’s water resources and resulting decline in per capita water availability, food insecurity, lower agricultural yields, deforestation and shortage of water for industrial and domestic usage.
He said macro-scale hydrological model for river flow suggested that
runoff the Indus river would decrease by 27 percent by the year 2050 due to global climate change, adding “This implies that the availability of fresh water would further decrease because Pakistan had already ranked at 23rd among most water stressed countries worldwide.”
PEC Chairman Engineer Jawed Salim Qureshi in his welcome address
said the Think Tank was acting as a bridge between various government departments to facilitate, identify gaps, challenges and providing policy guidelines on various national issues to the government.
He said the workshop would help in finding out workable guidelines
and strategy in the light of deliberations and presentations given by the
participants.
Engineer-in-Chief Lt Gen Khalid Asghar also spoke and suggested to
adopt modern techniques in irrigation sector to preserve water and its
maximum utlization.
He said piped and drip irrgation were one of the most effective
strategies to meet water needs of different seasonal yields.
Later, souvenirs were presented to to Minister for Science and
Technology Rana Tanveer Hussain and Engineer-in-Chief Lt Gen Khalid
Asghar.