The UN 2023 Water Conference has wrapped after a breakthrough response to the global water crisis, with governments, businesses and civil society making almost 700 commitments to advance the water agenda, a dealmaker for accelerating sustainable development overall.
Pakistan on Thursday stressed the need for trans-boundary water cooperation, citing the 1960 Indus Water Treaty with India as an example of such successful cooperation that provided an effective mechanism to deal with issues related to the shared water resources.
Hasan Nisar Jamy, Water Resources Ministry Secretary and Pakistan’s chief delegate, told the UN Water Conference at the United Nations in New York that Pakistan shared surface and groundwater resources with two neighbouring countries.
“Within the South Asia region, population growth and increasing water demand, coupled with climate change impacts and ecosystem degradation, has made water cooperation even more imperative,” Jamy told the general debate.
“The Indus Waters Treaty, which governs sharing of the Indus basin’s waters, is one example of such successful cooperation, which provides an effective mechanism for cooperation and management on water issues,” Jamy added.
The conference, the first in almost five decades, aims at dealing with the water-related challenges. Speaking on the penultimate day of the three-day event, Jamy warned against unilateral actions, which could “spiral into threats to regional peace”.
Pakistan is among the top 10 water scarce countries in the world, and has also been among the top 10 climate vulnerable countries. Jamy stressed that Pakistan’s main water resource was highly sensitive to climate change.
On ‘Water Governance’, Jamy said that a policy was currently being implemented with focus on the construction of new reservoirs, improving water use efficiency, ensuring conservation and improving management.
“We have also started to formulate and promulgate ‘Ground Water Regulations’ and establish supportive authorities at the provincial and sub-national levels,” the chief Pakistani delegate added.
At the conference, The UN University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-IWEH) issued a new ‘Global Water Security 2023 Assessment’ report, bracketing Pakistan in the list of 23 least developed countries (LDCs) and small island developing states (SIDS) facing critical levels of water security and sanitation services.
Source : Tribune
