Poorly planned water schemes adversely impact health of people, nature: WWF

KARACHI: Climate challenge forces the nation to a critical point to not only meet climate and energy goals for the planet but also conserve and protect freshwater resources. Poorly planned water schemes have adversely impacted the health of people and nature and have caused huge economic losses.

This was stated by WWF-Pakistan on the occasion of World Water Week, which was observed digitally due to Covid-19. The online sessions focusing on the theme of 'Water and Climate' started on 24 August and will continue till 28 August 2020. During this week, WWF-Pakistan urges safeguarding the free flow of rivers and nature for a resilient future. It emphasised that the adverse impacts of climate change in Pakistan are felt in the form of widespread rains in most of areas of the country including urban flooding in Karachi, which not only damaged infrastructure and other assets but caused human loss.

Commenting on Water Week, Hammad Naqi Khan, Director General, WWF-Pakistan said that though critical to all life and to most economic activity, water is undervalued relative to the wide ranges of uses and benefits it provides. During the current decade, the country has witnessed record floods, widespread rains, heat waves, droughts and rise in temperatures. Healthy freshwater ecosystems are key to our efforts to adapt to changing climate and a warming world. He said that wetlands are our life support systems and central to efforts to adapt to climate change. He urged that we should protect our rivers and wetlands, which provide diverse benefits to people and other wildlife. "We should invest in nature based solutions which are cost-effective, simultaneously provide environmental, social and economic benefits and help build resilience," he added.

It is an important moment to remember that our planet's water sources are already being impacted by the climate crisis. Glaciers are melting across the world's highest mountains; contributing to super floods, sea level rise and changing river flows, affecting people and nature from the high altitudes all the way downstream to the sea. Altering river flows by constructing dams and canals impacts access to water, food production, green belts and economic activities along entire river systems. This can be witnessed in the case of the Indus River in Pakistan that has been adversely impacted due to water diversions. Climate change is transforming high mountain ecosystems and threatening the survival of many freshwater species. Worldwide, many glaciers are expected to disappear by 2100 and Pakistan is no exception.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020